The Life of Lola

Lola Wright 1926 - 2018

We said our goodbyes to Lola Wright at the Naranderra cemetery in June 2018. She had organised the whole event including the ‘farewell’ at the Morundah Pub after the burial. In typical fashion, two songs were chosen by Lola as a send-off: ‘I Did It My Way’ and, as they lowered her down, ‘Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye’. The farewell at Morundah was full of stories, laughter and music in memory of this amazing woman.

Russel Hannah of Wollongong first introduced us to former schoolteacher, singer, musician and activist Lola Wright and remembered her parties in the Illawarra area of NSW:

“Lola's house in Oak Flats with her partner Bill Everill was a great party place and Friday nights was 'Keg and Singing Night'. Lola had a piano and also played the accordion and in true 'infants’ mistress' style she made sure that nobody had an excuse for not singing. She had an overhead projector and would project the words of the songs onto the wall. Even those of us who couldn't hold a note were obliged to bellow out the words and there are still quite a few people around the Illawarra who know all the verses of 'Solidarity Forever' and the second verse of the 'Red Flag' because of Lola's transparencies.”

During the mid 1950’s Lola and her then husband, Jack Wright, had a visit from a couple of members of the original Bushwhacker’s Band who were performing in the Australian Musical Reedy River at the New Theatre in Newtown, Sydney. As a result of this visit the South Coast Bush Band was formed, with Lola at the helm.  

“We played anywhere for any good cause and for no cost - not even petrol. Schools, surf clubs, May days, fund raising for striking wharfies, Trades and Labour Council "do's", miners' break-up parties and such. Looking around at what happens now with Australian Folk Songs, it's something of an honour to have been in on the ground floor, even if no one knows or cares."

This band was either the second or third of this type formed in Australia. The visit also rekindled Lola’s interest in the folklore that she had experienced growing up in the bush in Queensland.

Lola Wright (nee Cowling) was born in 1926 in Childers, Qld. and travelled with her parents who were railway sleeper cutters.  Music and verse were soaked up by the young Lola and the memories of this era retained.  Lola went on to train as a teacher and stayed with this profession, attaining the role of Infants’ Mistress. During her time as a teacher Lola was a strong activist for better conditions and equal wages for women teachers.

Lola and Bill left the Illawarra in the 1980s and, after a stint running the bar on Narrandera Railway Station, settled in the tiny Riverina town of Morundah, where we visited her for the first time in November 2001. She sang us songs from her days at Armidale Teachers’ College, old parlour songs, political songs, bush songs and parodies and spoke at length about her fascinating life.  It seemed to us that this forthright and committed woman of the left had found herself in on the ground floor for most of her life - a passionate life of active involvement in industrial and political issues, of working to improve gender equality, and of promoting Australia's musical identity.

On our second visit in February 2002 Lola delved more into her childhood in Queensland and remembered dance music as well as some of the games and songs from the school yard.  These included a series of songs, ‘Maggie Maggie Magpie’, ‘Oh, Cuddly Native Bear’, ‘Merry Brown Thrush’, ‘Twenty Froggies’ and others of this kind.  

We continued to record the stories, songs and poetry of Lola Wright over the years and they are now archived in the National Library of Australia Oral History and Folklore section.  Many are available online through our catalogue https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/, search ‘Lola Wright’.

A play, ‘Lola’s Keg Night’ written by award-winning playwright PP Cranney and producer/musical director Christina Mimmocchi, was produced in 2014 and was presented at many folk festivals and other venues. It created an awareness of Lola and other strong women of her generation.

More information on Lola at:

https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/2600053/the-ballad-of-living-treasure-lola-wright/

Rob Willis

THE EARLIEST BUSH BANDS

A 'bush band' c. 1905, SLQ

The first mention of a ‘bush band’ seems to be in the surprising context of a visit by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1868. The Sydney Mailof 15 February that reported a reception for his Royal Highness at which a Volunteer band – a military style brass band – played in the usual manner for such events. After the Duke had departed, guests danced quadrilles to the music of this band, but a ‘bush band’ was also playing, quite a lot, it seems:

‘There was another band upon the ground - what was called "The bush band" - which also favoured the public with much melody. Its harmonies, however, were more of a lugubrious and sentimental character than those of its rival, and it was consequently less popular. It was, however, the centre of a small knot of applauding amateurs de musique who seemed to appreciate "Ah che la morte" and "The heart bowed down," &c. ’

The following year, His Excellency Governor Weld was received at the Roman Catholic Mission at Victoria Plains, Western Australia.

‘While His Excellency was at supper, a bush band was got up consisting of a violin, concertina, triangle, and a large tin dish which answered instead of a drum; several popular airs were played; and His Excellency was very much pleased, for he knew that every one was doing their very best, and with the best intentions.’ (The Perth Gazette and West Australian Times, 19 November 1869, 2-3).

It is likely that some, or all, of the members of this bush band were Aboriginal inmates of the Mission.

By the 1880s, bush bands seem to have been an accepted element of the colonial music scene. As reported in the 18 January edition of the Warwick Argusin 1886:

‘The new year was ushered in in this part of the world in the usual fashion. The stirring strains of the bush band - composed of first and second kerosene tins, an asthmatic concertina, a wheezy comb, and a couple of broken-voiced tin whistles - burst upon the stilly night as the clock struck 12. The atmospheric disturbance was something terrific - and the wonder is that we have had a day's fine weather since. The roisterers made the usual round of the pubs. At the first - host Holmes' - the 'cute landlord warned his visitors that it being after midnight, and consequently 1886, the new Licensing Act was in force and he dare not open his house or sell liquor between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. "We don't want you to sell it, shouted the tin whistle. But the landlord was obdurate, and the thirsty ones had at last to go empty away. They were more successful elsewhere. Having gathered plenty of eatables and drinkables, they returned to the Royal and made things lively for a short time; then, leaving their instruments in pledge for what they did not get, adjourned to the recreation reserve and disposed of the "wine and wittles." Most of them have quite recovered.’

The essential connection between bush music and booze seems to have been well established by this time and spontaneous ensembles of this kind remained a small but important element of community music-making. When the folk revival produced the original Bushwhackers band of the Sydney Bush Music Club in the 1950s, the only changes were the addition of the bush bass, probably derived from the brief skiffle craze of that era, and the lagerphone. 

The spirit of handmade music remained the same. From the 1970s, the ‘second’ Bushwackers [sic] band (originally Bushwackers and Bullockies), took the style to a new level of electrified volume and professional performance standards. Many other ‘bush bands’ also formed in this period and one or two remain today, though the bush dance fad that largely supported these groups has long gone. 

Time for a revival, perhaps?

ACKNOWLEDGMENT: The historical research on which this article is based was mostly undertaken by Dr Graeme Skinner of the University of Sydney, used with his kind permission - see his excellent site, Australharmony.

Graham Seal

VERANDAH MUSIC AT THE 2018 NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL

We're back at the National this year after a sold-out performance of The Music of Mawson's Men and a good session on Tassie traditions on the Sunday afternoon.

At the National we'll be presenting another Tassie session with the help of a few friends as well as a new show on crime in folklore, called 'Crime, Cops and Crooks' (plenty of material there). 

If you're at the National, come and join us:
 

 Crims, Crooks and Cops - Trocadero  31/03/2018 3.30-4.30pm

Tassie Tunes and Tarradiddles - Trocadero 01/04/2018 10:00 - 11.00am

Rob will be doing a few other gigs, including:

Trocadero  30/03/2018 13:00 - 1:00
Tales and Tunes of the Darwin Stringbands

plus a few Live at the Lounge interviews

And don't forget the National Folklore Conference at the National Library on March 29. Entry is free (but registration to g.seal@curtin.edu.au) and there will be a great lunchtime concert featuring the Darwin Rondalla Stringband.

Does it get any better!?