Jeanette Wormald’s roots go deep into the soil of outback Australia. She’s a working broad-acre farmer, a passionate advocate of sustainable agriculture and natural resource management, a true daughter of South Australia’s arid Mallee region - and a fishing enthusiast.
However, most of all, Jeanette is a songwriter - and her evocative, perceptive songs capture her passion for and understanding of the Australian bush in a way no other woman in this country has been able to achieve. Jeanette’s songs capture the mood, the magic and the characters of the Mallee, weaving impressions and images together in a delicate, subtle way. The lyrics are seamlessly entwined in exquisite musical arrangements, with Jeanette’s sublime, crystal-clear voice soaring through it all.
Jeanette has also spent a considerable amount of time working with Indigenous communities in South Australia’s vast desert regions. She’s collaborated closely with the Anangu Community in the Maralinga Tjarutja lands of Oak Valley, and with the Raukkan Ngarrindjeri Community, and has enormous respect for the strong spirituality and connection to country of the people with whom she’s worked.
Jeanette’s deep understanding of the bush and its people, and her use of music to carry their message across Australia and to the world, has led to her winning a State Music Industry Award in 1995, and a South Australia Great Award in 2005 for her contribution to the arts and her work in promoting regional Australia.
Her sensitive, perceptive song writing skills have also been recognised with invitations to write two songs for the Tracks to Federation celebrations – “Woomera – Dream Launcher” and “Yurin Kabi – Gathering Place” – as well as the theme song for the South Australian Rural Women’s Gathering, “I’m a Rural Woman”.
