Re: The Spoken Word in Bush Poetry
Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2023 12:01 pm
Thank you for those encouraging words of appreciation Catherine and your constant support and Faith that I can say never wavers!!
Literature and music are my favourites and those interests probably converge with your top interests too.
Australia's culture and national identity is of course a mosaic of all sorts of subjects.
Australian Sport is one area that we explore. A major section of this is swimming where Australia has always excelled.
AN INTERESTING STORY (a small part of a far bigger one..)
An auctioneer friend of mine rang me and alerted me to his upcoming sale of a large part of the memorabilia of Fred Lane who was Australia's first swimming Olympic Gold Medalist (1900, Paris). At first I did not grasp the significance of this but then it dawned on me. So I told him that I wanted around five specific items and that if he was in agreement, I would give him around $3,000 to gather (at his discretion) a representative sample from the rest of the estate collection he was auctioning. Competition for memorabilia such as this can be fierce .. so you have to go in very hard in order to succeed. (No room for garage sale mentality here... you just go for it..)
Then upon receipt, I had some of Fred's photos professionally restored and framed. Much material has yet to be dealt with.
An initial start to making his display has been completed and is spectacular. It will eventually be interactive with a supporting audio-visual component.
I mentioned Fred in previous posts : "However, as a quality trade-printer of that time who mixed in artistic circles in Sydney, doubtless Fred would have had connections to A. B. Paterson and Henry Lawson. A true Australian."
One item I have is the letter to Fred dated 1969 from the Swimming Hall Of Fame, Inc in Ft. Laurderdale in Florida. Within this historically significant letter, Fred is notified that he is to be a 1969 Hall Of Fame Honoree (sic).
The list of office bearers for this Swimming Hall Of Fame reveals two interesting people :
1. An Honorary (joint) Chairman of the Board : Mr. Johnny Weissmuller.
This name might be familiar as being Tarzan in the movies.. (12 feature films) and TV's Jungle Jim. He was also a great US Olympic champion swimmer and water polo player. His life story is quite moving.
2. Chairman of the Board : Mr James (Jim) Counsilman.
I have a personal connection to Jim.
Jim was a pilot in WW2 and subsequently an outstanding US swimming coach. His Indiana University Team were well recognised. He was the coach of the famous Chet Jastremski, the world's first great breaststroke swimmer who went on to become a doctor. (I have a personally inscribed card from Chet). Jim was a friend of my swimming coach Harry Gallagher who was also Dawn Fraser's coach.... and Dawn timed me once for a 50m sprint. She was still a world record holder at that time.
Jim's Indiana Uni team wore a special set of bathers that were a custom-red with white sides and had a trident side-emblem embroidered. He gave a pair of these prestigious bathers to Harry to gift to one of his swimmers. I was the hugely honoured recipient and I saved them for races, not training. The brand of these US bathers was Adolph Kiefer, who was an Olympic US backstroke swimmer and also an inductee into the Hall Of Fame. Adolph's accomplishments in swimming would take up a full page.
As I have said in the previous post, it is best that if possible, one has been there and done it and can "understand" before talking about it. Thus swimming is a subject I think that we can confidently present.
Pictures
1. The letter to Fred Lane
2. Fred photos
3. The uncompleted framed presentation that records my own association with swimming through the story of my red bathers.. and Harry Gallagher, Jim Counsilman, Chet Jastremski and Adolf Kiefer. Being associated with such true sporting "greats" does not mean one is up there with them in any way, but that you had the privilege to at least be a part of the golden years of swimming... and understand the hard training and dedication required for anyone to become champions in their field. Gary
Literature and music are my favourites and those interests probably converge with your top interests too.
Australia's culture and national identity is of course a mosaic of all sorts of subjects.
Australian Sport is one area that we explore. A major section of this is swimming where Australia has always excelled.
AN INTERESTING STORY (a small part of a far bigger one..)
An auctioneer friend of mine rang me and alerted me to his upcoming sale of a large part of the memorabilia of Fred Lane who was Australia's first swimming Olympic Gold Medalist (1900, Paris). At first I did not grasp the significance of this but then it dawned on me. So I told him that I wanted around five specific items and that if he was in agreement, I would give him around $3,000 to gather (at his discretion) a representative sample from the rest of the estate collection he was auctioning. Competition for memorabilia such as this can be fierce .. so you have to go in very hard in order to succeed. (No room for garage sale mentality here... you just go for it..)
Then upon receipt, I had some of Fred's photos professionally restored and framed. Much material has yet to be dealt with.
An initial start to making his display has been completed and is spectacular. It will eventually be interactive with a supporting audio-visual component.
I mentioned Fred in previous posts : "However, as a quality trade-printer of that time who mixed in artistic circles in Sydney, doubtless Fred would have had connections to A. B. Paterson and Henry Lawson. A true Australian."
One item I have is the letter to Fred dated 1969 from the Swimming Hall Of Fame, Inc in Ft. Laurderdale in Florida. Within this historically significant letter, Fred is notified that he is to be a 1969 Hall Of Fame Honoree (sic).
The list of office bearers for this Swimming Hall Of Fame reveals two interesting people :
1. An Honorary (joint) Chairman of the Board : Mr. Johnny Weissmuller.
This name might be familiar as being Tarzan in the movies.. (12 feature films) and TV's Jungle Jim. He was also a great US Olympic champion swimmer and water polo player. His life story is quite moving.
2. Chairman of the Board : Mr James (Jim) Counsilman.
I have a personal connection to Jim.
Jim was a pilot in WW2 and subsequently an outstanding US swimming coach. His Indiana University Team were well recognised. He was the coach of the famous Chet Jastremski, the world's first great breaststroke swimmer who went on to become a doctor. (I have a personally inscribed card from Chet). Jim was a friend of my swimming coach Harry Gallagher who was also Dawn Fraser's coach.... and Dawn timed me once for a 50m sprint. She was still a world record holder at that time.
Jim's Indiana Uni team wore a special set of bathers that were a custom-red with white sides and had a trident side-emblem embroidered. He gave a pair of these prestigious bathers to Harry to gift to one of his swimmers. I was the hugely honoured recipient and I saved them for races, not training. The brand of these US bathers was Adolph Kiefer, who was an Olympic US backstroke swimmer and also an inductee into the Hall Of Fame. Adolph's accomplishments in swimming would take up a full page.
As I have said in the previous post, it is best that if possible, one has been there and done it and can "understand" before talking about it. Thus swimming is a subject I think that we can confidently present.
Pictures
1. The letter to Fred Lane
2. Fred photos
3. The uncompleted framed presentation that records my own association with swimming through the story of my red bathers.. and Harry Gallagher, Jim Counsilman, Chet Jastremski and Adolf Kiefer. Being associated with such true sporting "greats" does not mean one is up there with them in any way, but that you had the privilege to at least be a part of the golden years of swimming... and understand the hard training and dedication required for anyone to become champions in their field. Gary