John Smoker

John Smoker is a musician. He is the son of Fitzroy Crossing missionaries and grew up there. He told me he has a working knowledge of three Aboriginal languages. His parents' biography has been written by their daughter (see below). There is a review of the book in History West for May 2024 (also see below).

Among bands which I know John has played with in Fremantle include: the KG Bees, the Midnight Jammers, Racy Tailor, and Hayfever.

John’s previous WA bands have been The Hips, plus Kimberley bands like Rattle and Hum, The Geckoes, Sooty Grunter, as well a five year stint in Fitzroy Xpress as manager and guitar player.

[[People/buildings/img/vichallsmoker.jpg|]]

Victoria Hall set up for a performance by a band led by John Smoker, for the Fremantle Workers Club, c. 2000.

References and Links

Masters Keren 2023, No Turning Back: Life story of Pearl and Bruce Smoker, missionaries amongst Aboriginal people in Western Australia, Ark House Press.
Reviewed: by Professor Lenore Layman in History West, May 2024.

Freotopia

This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 5 May, 2024 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/smokerjohn.html (it was last updated on 5 May, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.