Bill Wannan was a leading collector of, and an authority on, Australian folklore. He published over 50 books in the fields of folklore, humour, Australian colonial figures (including bushrangers) and the Scots and Irish in Australia.
The son of W. F. Wannan snr (q.v.), Bill Wannan was raised in a family that valued folk songs and bush ballads and he developed a keen ear for vernacular language. Wannan served in the AIF during World War II and was based in the Northern Territory, Dutch New Guinea and various locations in Indonesia.
After the war Wannan was employed by the Department of Postwar Reconstruction and, in 1952, he was one of the founders of the Australasian Book Society. In the same year he began to write regular newspaper columns for The Argus and, later, the Australasian Post.
During his career, Wannan collected over 10,000 folk stories, legends, ballads and samples of popular verse. This collection, and Wannan's commentaries, translated into numerous publications across more than four decades, beginning with The Australian: Yarns, Ballads, Legends and Traditions of the Australian People. Wannan's books continue to be re-published.
