Norm O'Connor
Norm O’Connor (1923-2015) was born in Melbourne, where he has lived most of his life. During World War II O’Connor joined the Communist Party of Australia and it was about this time that he first heard European folk music. As an Australian nationalist and a communist, he was concerned that traditional Australian music and folklore should be preserved and protected against the influx of American popular culture. He was impressed by the musical Reedy River, based on the 1891 shearers’ strike, which was performed by the New Theatre in 1953. The Victorian Folk Lore Society was formed soon afterwards and O’Connor was one of the original members. The Society considered that its primary task should be to record the old songs and stories of colonial Victoria, especially those that were popular in rural areas. O’Connor was the only member of the Society who owned a tape recorder and he agreed to undertake the task. Most of his early recordings were in Melbourne, but later he devoted his holidays to excursions to different parts of Victoria.
These recordings are now held as the Norm O'Connor Collection. These are held in the O'Connor Collection in the National Library of Australia in Canberra. This collection provided some of the Australian tunes in this archive. It includes recordings of Australian folk songs, some British folk songs, Greek and Turkish music, African songs, dance music, recitations, poetry, jokes, children’s rhymes, yarns, and recollections recorded in Victoria 1953-1969.
See also details at NLA Bib ID 594624
See also Pat O'Connor and the Folklore Society of Victoria.
