AustLit

Richard Magoffin was the son of Dick and Margaret Magoffin, and a grandson of Dick Magoffin Snr who was a 'friend and neighbour of the Macphersons of Dagworth Station'. Magoffin attended school at All Souls St Gabriels School, Charters Towers, Queensland and was school captain there in 1956. (He later returned to the school as a member of staff.) Magoffin married in the early 1960s and managed family properties in the Julia Creek district.

Magoffin developed an interest in writing and he published his first book of bush ballads, We Bushies, in 1968. He also became fascinated in the origins of A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson's 'Waltzing Matilda' and was often in disagreement with academic authorities on this issue. Magoffin's first work on the subject was Fair Dinkum Matilda (1973). Magoffin contended that Paterson's ballad was linked to the death of unionist Samuel Hoffmeister during the 1890s Queensland Shearers' Strike, but Professor Colin Roderick was one of those who remained entirely unconvinced by Magoffin's theory.

In the decade or so prior to his death Magoffin entertained patrons at the Matilda Expo and Heritage Theatre with bush songs, yarns and ballads, and with his version of the history behind Paterson's poem. The Theatre closed in August 2005 when Magoffin was unable to continue his performances due to ill health.

Sources: 'Bushie Promoted the Matilda Story', Courier-Mail, 15 May 2006 and 'Waltzing Through a Big Career', Northern Miner, 16 May 2006.