Goodbye Blinky Bill
1986 song by Joh Williamson
"Goodbye Blinky Bill" is a song written and recorded by John Williamson with Bullamakanka and John’s daughters Ami and Georgie. The song was released in a limited edition in March 1986 as the only single from Williamson's 1986 compilation album All the Best.
The song is a conservation song, raising awareness of the decline in numbers of the Australian koala due to deforestation of eucalypts trees; with reference to an anthropomorphic koala named Blinky Bill. A$1 from each sale was donated to the Koala Preservation Society in Port Macquarie.
The song has been covered by The Wayfarers.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Goodbye Blinky Bill” is 1986 song by Joh Williamson. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Goodbye, Blinky and Bill, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1986 song by Joh Williamson” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 15, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q57289532. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1986.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Goodbye Blinky Bill”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Goodbye Blinky Bill primary sources, Goodbye Blinky Bill archive and Goodbye research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Goodbye Blinky Bill”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Goodbye Blinky Bill” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.