ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 43 | February 2000
Voices
from the past:
politicians, poets, performers and painters
The Oral History Section promoted the rich resources of the Collection when it conducted a series of weekly lunchtime briefings late last year.
The themes for the sessions were Politicians, Poets, Performers and Painters, and were based on interviews from the Oral History Collection. Several of the Librarys interviewers spoke on aspects of recordings they had conducted with many of our more interesting interviewees.
Politicians:
what Gough really said
Dianne Dahlitz provided background to the Librarys collection of
political interviews in this session, recounting its history and some
highlights. Two of the Librarys prominent interviewers, John
Farquharson and Ann Turner, then gave interesting insights into the
stories behind the public face of several of Australias
most famous political moments. John explained the background of these
events, before taking his audience to the heart of the story through the
spoken word of interviewees. He elaborated on what Gough Whitlam had said
to the Speaker of the House, Jim Cope, in February 1975, as Cope crossed
the floor in a division after the Whitlam government (of which Cope was a
member) had failed to support him. At the time there was much conjecture
as to what Whitlam had said, with suggestions including: You bloody
idiot. Youve stuffed it now. In his oral history interview
Cope reveals that Whitlam said just three words: You should resignadvice
Cope followed. Other major events revisited included the decision to hang
Ronald Ryan (the last man hanged in Australia). When interviewed, Sir
Henry Bolte, long-serving Victorian Premier, spoke of the period as the greatest
trying time of his political life. Dame Enid Lyons spoke about her real
partnership with Prime Minister husband, Joe. Ann Turner provided a
different slant on politicians and political life through stories from her
interviews with political cartoonists.
Poets:
catching the wind in a net
Mark Cranfields presentation, entitled Catching the Wind in a
Net: Poetry and the Oral History Collection, focussed on the work of
pioneering oral historian, Hazel de Berg. It revealed the surprising fact
that the woman once described as the unsurpassed genius of
Australian oral history did not regard herself as an oral historian
at all. Mark explained how, during the 1950s, Mrs de Berg began her
recording career by taping famous Australian poets such as Dame Mary
Gilmore and Kenneth Slessor reciting their own works. He then showed how
she progressed to recording brief verbal self-portraits using techniques
derived from documentary broadcasters. Drawing on a poetical
appreciation of life, de Berg added almost 1200 recordings to the
Collection before her death in 1984. Her work has had a substantial
influence on some more orthodox oral historians, and has puzzled and
frustrated others.
Performers:
whispers from the wings
Bill Stephens, proprietor of the School of Arts Cafe in Queanbeyan and the
new Starz Supper Club, was the Librarys guest speaker for this
session. Bill and Natasha Hennoste (from the Oral History Section) took
the audience behind the curtain and into the lives of several of the
performers in the Collection. Theaudience heard the story of how Hayes
Gordon began his long career as an actor and singer from his first lucky
break, before laughing along with comedian Bobby Le Brun when he cackled
his way, almost uncontrollably, through a funny story from his life on the
stage.
Natasha drew upon the interviews with performers from the world of dance. She discussed the development of dance in Australia through the recollections of Maina Gielgud and Graeme Murphy.
Painters:
cameo in sound
The final presentation was the Painters. Helen Pecheniuk (the
Oral History Reference Librarian) took the audience on a fascinating
journey in the world of Australian art through the recordings of Hazel de
Berg. Helen supported her sound clips with paintings and photographs from
the Images1 pictorial database. Hazels notes were used to set the
scene of the location of the interview; for example, Nora Heysens
pretty, sunny old-fashioned home had all the feeling of her flower
paintings. The audience listened to artists William Pidgeon, Phyl
Waterhouse and Ernest Buckmaster relate their methods and the influences
that affected their work.
Audience and staff alike thoroughly enjoyed hearing these voices from the past speak once more in the present, and gained a greater appreciation for some of the many uses for Oral History interviews.
Left: Nora Heysen was among the artists discussed in the 'Painters' section of the Oral History presentations. One of six daughters of Hans Heysen, Nora made her own career as an artist, winning the Archibald Prize in 1938 before painting as a war artist in Papua New Guinea.
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: tford@nla.gov.au