Sleeve of ONCE AROUND THE SUN , and other verses by young Australians , above , a circa 1970 long play record , introduced by John Clements , recorded in the Radio 6KY studios , Perth, WA, an oddity recently discovered by Little Darwin in the Nightcliff Uniting Church Op Shop. Clements , a peace activist and social historian, toured Australia taking poetry to schools with readings and cassettes, according to the Murdoch University Library . The sleeve is a design by artist , Koloman Sokol , born 1902 ,described as one of the founders of modern Czechoslovakian graphic art .
The record makes the claim that it is the world’s first recording of poetry written by young people and spoken by secondary and primary students. The titles of the verses give an interesting insight into the subjects which inspired the youth of that time - When I Am Alone, Old People, Witches, The Rabbit, The Crocodile, The Kangaroo , The Dingo, The Gangster, Jokes, Me , Garbage Tin, Frog In A Fog, Black Progression , Hitler’s Dream, Decimals Arithmetic, Drought, Haunted House , Butterfly Catching, The Billboards, etcetera.
The record makes the claim that it is the world’s first recording of poetry written by young people and spoken by secondary and primary students. The titles of the verses give an interesting insight into the subjects which inspired the youth of that time - When I Am Alone, Old People, Witches, The Rabbit, The Crocodile, The Kangaroo , The Dingo, The Gangster, Jokes, Me , Garbage Tin, Frog In A Fog, Black Progression , Hitler’s Dream, Decimals Arithmetic, Drought, Haunted House , Butterfly Catching, The Billboards, etcetera.
Clements , son of a Cambridge solicitor, educated at Cambridge and Oxford , after being disillusioned by “sharp” business practices in London and the General Strike of 1926, sailed for Australia in 1929, arriving in the Depression.
After working on the land , he unsuccessfully stood for parliament on the Douglas Credit ticket .With a love of language and a cultured voice, he obtained a job as an announcer at the ABC in 1936. He became a member of the Communist Party and remained so until the 1968 Prague Spring which ended in the Soviet invasion ; he was watched by ASIO for 25 years . Over the years he was involved in many community development and social justice projects.
In Western Australia he campaigned for establishment of a kindergarten and library at Bassendean, where he lived with his wife and four children in an old house on an acre of land with a large garden ,chooks and a milking cow . He was president of the Children’s Book Council and headed the WA Peace Council for many years. An active member of New Theatre and the Fellowship of Australian Writers , he was associated with FreVideo, which became part of the Film and Television Institute and was manager of the World Record Club .
Murdoch University has the John Clements oral history collection consisting of interviews with a wide range of interesting people – WA Aboriginal politician , Ernie Bridge; Vivian Bullwinkel , only survivor of a Japanese massacre of nurses; controversial journalist , Wilfred Burchett ; British unionist ,Tony Benn; Communist author , Katherine Susannah Prichard ; sprinter Shirley Strickland, who became the WA governor ; American singer,activist, Paul Robeson,addressing the WA Peace Council in 1960; artist Jack Lindsay; Arthur Scargill of the British National Union of Miners ; King Wally Umbilgurri re techniques of playing the didgeridoo; activist actress Vanessa Redgrave.
Subjects covered include... Early days of the BBC and the ABC ; Aboriginal languages; Noonkenbah and mining; POW experiences ; Spanish Civil War; early WA airlines; socialism; Fremantle jail; Turkey’s history and the position of women; Brazil as a young republic ; Peru; nursing in Africa; the Anti Fascists League ; early WA theatre; WA radio from 1924.
Nursery rhymes is the subject of an interview with UK literary identity Norman Isles, who wrote Who Killed Cock Robin? , nursery rhymes and carols restored to original meanings , which revealed the pagan origin of Xmas carols and midwinter festivals.
