Lola Wright

Lola (Viola) Wright (1926-2018), Maroundah, NSW provided details of some of the Australian tunes in this archive.

The National Library of Australia holds aural recordings of interviews conducted with Lola Wright. He was interviewed by:

Alan Musgrove in December 1996, [3], "Viola (Lola) Wright discusses her family history; her parents being contract workers on railworks; her memories of early travel with them; camp sites; her grandmother."

Rob Willis in November 2001, [4], [5], "Lola Wright, retired publican, sings songs from her days at Armidale Teachers College, old parlour songs, political songs, bush songs & parodies."

Rob Willis in November 2001, [6], "Wright born in Childers, Qld. retired publician sings folk songs and recalls her childhood years; music in the family; bush dances at Glenreach; her Catholic education & attending University at Armidale in 1944; popular songs of the 1940s and 1950s; childrens rhymes; father returning home from POW camp; her teaching career; teaching manual dexterity with rhymes & songs actions and ditties; nursery rhymes used for rhythm lessons every day; school games; lower wages & conditions for female teachers & union equal pay campaign; her political involvement with Communist Party & Labor Party; Reedy River songs; forming the South Coast Bush Band (1956-1960); band activities supporting causes; bush band repertoire; Reedy River songbook; her second job playing piano in pubs & at weddings."

Rob Willis in February 2002, [7], "Lola Wright was born in Childers, Queensland. She recalls her childhood years frequently moving around the country because of her father's work as a sleeper cutter & bushman; graduating from Armidale Teacher's College, N.S.W, rising to the position of School Principal for Oaks Flats.; settling in the Illawarra, N.S.W. & becoming involved with the Communist and Union movement; the local communist party branch's involvement in local folklore; working conditions for women in the 1950s; her actions as a feminist fighting for equal pay in the education system. She recalls forming & running the South Coast Bush Band in the mid-1950s after a visit from the original Bushwhackers to Wollongong; life during mining strikes."

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