The Spoken Word in Bush Poetry

Discussion of any bush poetry topic.
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Shelley Hansen
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Re: The Spoken Word in Bush Poetry

Post by Shelley Hansen » Fri Aug 05, 2022 12:21 pm

Hi Gary

Love the old radio! Difficult to date but it certainly has the art deco look about it. I remember my parents' radiogram when I was little. Sitting on Dad's knee listening to the old 78rpm records is one of my earliest memories.

You are certainly gathering a lot of treasures!

Cheers
Shelley
Shelley Hansen
Lady of Lines
http://www.shelleyhansen.com

"Look fer yer profits in the 'earts o' friends,
fer 'atin' never paid no dividends."
(CJ Dennis "The Mooch o' Life")

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Gary Harding
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Re: The Spoken Word in Bush Poetry

Post by Gary Harding » Sat Aug 06, 2022 9:18 am

Hi Shelley... yes, you are absolutely spot on about the art deco look!

Wiki : "Art Deco, sometimes referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I... and predominated during the 20's and 30's. It influenced the design of buildings, furniture.... and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners. "

I notice that the console radio's shortwave dial refers to England, France, Italy, Germany in a nice grouping. With the division of Germany post-war into East and West, it kind of suggests that the knowledgeable bloke who said to me around 1938-39 might have been right. What caused me to doubt was the presence of a 6V6 valve in the audio output stage, a valve that I was very familiar with from my youth in tinkering with radios. I therefore thought that this popular valve could at the earliest have appeared in the 50's. Not so. Apparently it first appeared in 1937! hence debunking my theory.

This console radio could have even been tuned in to Mr. Menzies making his declaration of war in 1939!?

Anyway....

Pictured below is the now restored mantle radio bought at auction and previously pictured... no longer shabby! It has come up nicely and will likely have Jacko The Broadcasting Kookaburra emanating from it, recorded from the old 78 record. Kids will love it.
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Re: The Spoken Word in Bush Poetry

Post by Gary Harding » Sat Aug 06, 2022 11:45 am

In developing the unique Australian Cultural Centre, it is often fun to chat and "free-wheel" through the wonderland of truly Australian cultural subjects that are available to us to present.

A large sample occupies all of downstairs here and is set out for visitors.
Sometimes in the evening after an intense day of project work, I will sit quietly there and feel the spirits of all those past Australians of great achievement. It is as if they reach out to you and offer encouragement ...

So.. we happily take on the task by default of defining both Australian Culture and the National Identity.

For example :

The Country Women's Association (CWA) has played an important role in facilitating the development of Australia. We regard it as a cultural aspect that certainly qualifies for presentation in the Australian Cultural Centre. Without waxing lyrical about the CWA... we simply state the important role that it has played and some of its achievements etc.

As with many subjects, due to lack of time and staff it has only been touched on so far. Recipe books of which I think there are some in a box, the game of Hoy and other interesting stuff.

Below from the collection is the 1928 scarce and stirring sheet music of Forward! Ever Forward! ... being The Song Of The CWA.

Women of Australia, Waken!
Sister hearts are calling you;
Far in lonely spots forsaken
There is much to dare and do !
Ours to fight lest they meet failure,
Ours to share their vict'ry's cheers -
Heroines of great Australia,
Golden hearted Pioneers!

By pure chance, I noticed that The Queensland Chapter (QCWA) was formed on 11 August 1922 at Albert Hall, Brisbane and celebrates 100 years of continuous service in Queensland on 11 August 2022... in a few days time.

The actual entity CWA of Australia, a national body, ceased to exist in early 2022 with member state branches operating and doing their own thing without duplication at a national level etc .. it seems.

In 2017, the QCWA created its own perfume, '1922', to mark its 95th anniversary. So.. what will happen on the 100th anniversary!!?
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Re: The Spoken Word in Bush Poetry

Post by Gary Harding » Sun Aug 14, 2022 12:21 pm

Thunderbox (Part 1)

Just completed by Karen and myself for the Cultural Centre is this 1 : 10 scale, detailed presentation of the traditional Australian outback toilet or Thunderbox.

From ground-to-roofpeak it measures 30cm ( 12" )

Everything was hand-made by us. Many, many hours of work.

We had fun inventing all sorts of original modelling techniques including rust-effect, rigid corrugated iron, right down to the dozens of stains and paints formulated until we got the correct colour.

One side-wall can be seen to be half-glazed (I had to learn glass-cutting!) to allow visitors a view of the inside... plus a 12v internal lighting arrangement to make viewing easier too.

Does it bring back any memories?
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Re: The Spoken Word in Bush Poetry

Post by Gary Harding » Sun Aug 14, 2022 12:38 pm

Thunderbox Part 2

The rustic door was made from various pieces of driftwood scrounged from the beach out the back and sliced into mini-planks on the hobby bandsaw.
No two Thunderboxes are identical so there was considerable design flexibility for us.

I think this is the only such detailed (or any) model of this in existence.

It is Australian architecture at its most recognisable and humble. Typical of the sort of item presented in the Australian Cultural Centre, and it is as Dinki Di! Australian as it gets! :)
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Re: The Spoken Word in Bush Poetry

Post by Shelley Hansen » Sun Aug 14, 2022 5:13 pm

Love it! Certainly does bring back memories!

Years back our local TAFE had carpentry classes - usually one of their most acclaimed projects was the construction of a dinkum dunny!
Shelley Hansen
Lady of Lines
http://www.shelleyhansen.com

"Look fer yer profits in the 'earts o' friends,
fer 'atin' never paid no dividends."
(CJ Dennis "The Mooch o' Life")

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Re: The Spoken Word in Bush Poetry

Post by Gary Harding » Fri Aug 19, 2022 5:36 pm

Thanks Shelley...

It took hundreds of man-hours to make that tiny model outhouse to such a high standard of detail. It is one of those items that if you need it then you just have to make it yourself. No choice. Getting someone else to do it is just out of the question. So you suddenly have to become a Model-maker. :)

Next is finishing The Settlers Cottage... bigger, and well advanced. So far, so good.

The current edition of Beacon No 31 has our interesting article about Australian radio as a cultural phenomenon. (see photo, click on it to view).

It mentions some old time serials like Blue Hills, and Dad and Dave.

Leonard Teale (bush verse reciter) had his early career there.

Having treasures of various sorts for the Australian Cultural Centre is nice but if one gets too involved in getting stuff, you can unwittingly become a Collector. Unless you are careful, that in turn can cause you to become obsessed. Sort of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) where you must have or do something regardless of cost. I have seen OCD with collectors of every subject from old bottles to Dean Martin.

One Maryborough mate has recently converted to also being an "axe and anvil" collector. He gives massive anvils a whack and proclaims on the quality of the anvil by the purity of the note generated. Who am I to argue? Another has bikes and an unbelievable old stove collection! etc..

The Australian Cultural Centre has its emphasis on “learning through entertainment”, and it will cater for Australian visitors, school students on educational excursions and will act as a “One-Stop-Shop” for overseas tourists wanting to learn about Australia. Thus we are actively and practically rescuing and preserving Australia’s Culture and National Identity. We find that many people are concerned that these aspects are rapidly diminishing or being deliberately destroyed. A nation with no unique and discernible identity is a very weak nation.
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Re: The Spoken Word in Bush Poetry

Post by Gary Harding » Sat Aug 27, 2022 6:58 am

THE UBIQUITOUS KOOKABURRA

Having been mostly bed-bound and in pain (still am) for the last few days with a twisted back (trying to lift a mower out of a trailer, instead of dropping the tailgate first, really stupid), earlier this evening I started to watch in bed an old Fox Classic movie on Foxtel Go with a younger Humphrey Bogart called “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”, set in Mexico.

Now you might wonder about the significance of mentioning this to you.

At one stage and well into the movie, I heard a surprising sound…one that was more than just a little alarming. At first I couldn’t believe my ears but as it continued, there was no mistaking the very distinctive sound of a kookaburra’s laugh. A kookaburra in the barren and rocky hills of Mexico one might ask? It didn’t make any sense and so I looked it up to see what I could discover. It seems kooka's are everywhere in the world... at least in the movies.

https://www.the-solute.com/kookaburra-a ... pparently/

https://flipboard.com/@mymodernmet/my-m ... ernmet.com

https://movies.stackexchange.com/questi ... ssion-of-a

The article in the first link above is quite interesting. I wonder did Jacko’s 78rpm recording play a role in any of these movies? … maybe it did?

More material for the Cultural Centre. A very world-famous bird.

Indianna Jones :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWLjtvbGuoo

At 54 secs into the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, yep, there is the kookaburra in the jungle of... well one might be forgiven if it was New Guinea because they hang out there apparently... but...

Anyway it seems the Aussie kookaburra gets around quite a bit!
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Re: The Spoken Word in Bush Poetry

Post by Gary Harding » Thu Sep 01, 2022 7:53 pm

The photo shown below was cropped from a much larger photo of a selection of some of the many items in our C. J. Dennis display. The photo quality is therefore perhaps not great.

However... it hides a fascinating story...

The two identical books at the front are 1913 first editions of Backblock Ballads by Dennis. One (left) is open and the other closed.
The open one contains Den's signature.

I noticed it for sale at an on-line auction years ago but its description did not say that it was signed! That fact had been missed by the auctioneer... so imagine my delight to find the signature in it after I had bought the book for (I think) a modest $130. The market today for quality Dennis material is insane... people are really chasing it.... and this, as a signed first edition, would be worth $750 - $1000+ (estimated). One would never part with it for less.

By chance, I bought a large Lot of Dennis material from Barry Watts, author of The World of The Sentimental Bloke (1976). Some of his book can just be seen above the Backblock Ballads copies. Included in the Lot was a copy of Barry's book, very kindly signed and gifted to me.

The story does not end there....

Within his book, Barry makes the comment "Dennis wrote with a firm hand, usually with green ink".
And there was the signature in my Backblock Ballads .. in green ink no less!! Handled by the great man himself.

Our task as just two people is to effectively make sure that C.J. Dennis remains great, and gets even greater for all Australians!... and is never forgotten.

Yes, a big and unique undertaking... but seven years of hard work have, among many things, produced a magnificent and entertaining Dennis display. We just have to find a patriot (of financial means) with a similar attitude and dedication. Starting with Australia's wealthiest individuals and working our way down we have yet to strike a chord .. perhaps Australian patriotism is not really exciting... but somewhere that right, fabulous, special person as a Partner must exist.

Their family name will then be rightly enshrined and loved forever at The Australian Cultural Centre by a grateful nation. One is never remembered by simply being wealthy.. one generation and you are forgotten. Here is the chance to stamp one's mark for eternity as the saviour of Australia's culture and identity.

A true Honour, surely.
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Re: The Spoken Word in Bush Poetry

Post by Shelley Hansen » Fri Sep 02, 2022 6:05 pm

Great pickup, Gary!

Sorry to hear about your recent back injury - hope you are recovering well.
Shelley Hansen
Lady of Lines
http://www.shelleyhansen.com

"Look fer yer profits in the 'earts o' friends,
fer 'atin' never paid no dividends."
(CJ Dennis "The Mooch o' Life")

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