Gateways logo

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 Library’s 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 Library’s collection of political interviews in this session, recounting its history and some highlights. Two of the Library’s prominent interviewers, John Farquharson and Ann Turner, then gave interesting insights into the stories behind the ‘public face’ of several of Australia’s 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. You’ve stuffed it now.’ In his oral history interview Cope reveals that Whitlam said just three words: ‘You should resign’—advice 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 Cranfield’s 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 Library’s 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.

Nora Heysen, painter

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. Hazel’s notes were used to set the scene of the location of the interview; for example, Nora Heysen’s 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.

| Contents list for this issue of Gateways |

Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: tford@nla.gov.au

Gateways logo