AustLit

Wayne Thorpe is a songwriter who uses songs to communicate Indigenous culture. He has written songs based on Dreamtime stories and, like his great-grandfather Charlie Green, he plays gum leaf music. Thorpe's grandfather Henry Thorpe was born in 1887 at Orbost. In 1916 he signed up to fight in World War One and saw action in France and Belgium where he was killed in action in 1918. Henry Thorpe was awarded the Military Medal for bravery and his story appeared in the Australian Army Journal.