Duke Tritton

Harold Percival Croydon "Duke" Tritton (1886-1965) was an Australian poet, folk singer and shearer. His best-known poem, The Sandy Hollow Line, described the hardships of unemployed workers who were given 'sustenance' or 'susso' work such as the construction the Sandy Hollow Maryvale Railway during the Great Depression. The poem was set to music by John Dengate and was subsequently recorded by local artists including Warren Fahey.

Tritton was an early member of the Sydney Bush Music Club, which formed in 1954. He assisted John Meredith in collecting old bush songs. His autobiography, Time Means Tucker, was published by The Bulletin in 1959. This publication was a great success and was re-printed numerous times.

Biography Harold Percival Croydon Tritton was born in 1886 in Five Dock as the second son of Edgar Joseph Tritton, a labourer, and Frances née Lane. After leaving school at 13 he undertook a range of jobs including fisherman, newsboy, factory worker, apprentice and builder's labourer. During that time he wrote bush songs such as, "Shearing in a Bar", "The Gooseneck Spurs" and "Hughie". He returned to Cullenbone until he retired to Sydney in 1957. Tritton responded to an article in The Bulletin in November 1954 by Meredith calling for "'missing' verses, songs and bush ballads."

Tritton sometimes joined Meredith's ensemble, The Bushwhackers, as a singer, which was heard on radio and appeared in public performances. Tritton died in May 1965, aged 78 and was survived by his wife, Caroline, and nine of their ten children. According to Tribunes D. K., "[he] could talk about the big shearing strikes from close knowledge, could yarn as easily with the Governor-General as with a young folk song enthusiast – and his life spanned more than a half century of Australian experience and tradition."