A unique and lovely bloke.......I don't know when they stopped making Aussies like John, but they have, he was the last of his kind, and Australia is much the poorer for it. I had the privilege of sharing a few beers and laughs at various folk festivals with John over the last 30 odd years, applauding his wickedly funny and insightful satirical political songs, wincing at his terrible puns but mainly just sitting there allowing his personal and musical honesty, his unswerving commitment to "keeping the bastards honest" and his compassion for the human condition to make this world, however briefly, seem a better place to have a few beers in.....

John had a major operation to remove a cancerous tumour a couple of years ago, around the same time as another Australian living treasure, the poet and author, Dennis O'Keefe, was also having a tumour removed. John wrote a humorous poem regarding their mutual medical conditions and sent it to Dennis to help cheer him up. For those of you who never had the privilege of hearing John sing or reading any of his poetry, I attach one verse of that poem, it will hopefully give you some small flavour of the man John Dengate was...........

St. Christopher, patron of Catholics who travel,
Said, 'If you drink beer by the keg and the barrel,
You never get cancer because your condition
Ensures you're too pissed to consult a physician,
I once knew two blokes, they were both piano tuners…
Who, every day, swallowed 25 schooners.
They walked under a bus and their end, it was gory…
I fear I've forgotten the point of this story…
Except … unless, you are as lithe as a dancer,
The bus is potentially worse than the cancer.
There are pros, there are cons. There are minuses, pluses,
But, on the whole, I'm more afraid of the buses