Sydney
Morning Herald NSW
13 May 2008
Folklore
collector extraordinaire
Edgar
Waters, 1925-2008
EDGAR
WATERS, scholar, folklorist and social historian, brought a sharp intellectual
approach and an unwavering historical rigour to the emerging field of
Australian folklore.
His exceptional knowledge influenced some of the pivotal
moments in folklore studies in the second half of the 20th century.
He also
brought a generous spirit, which encouraged and informed even while maintaining
a critical stance, and a lifetime of research simply for the love of learning.
Waters, who
has died at 82, was born in Sydney and grew up in Casino, northern NSW, during
the Depression. His father, Eric, was a bush worker who died before his son
reached 12; his mother, Thelma Matilda Lancaster, worked as a cleaner to raise
the family.
Edgar
matriculated early from Casino High School, applying for a scholarship at his
teachers' insistence. At just 16, he entered the heady world of Sydney
University at a time when thinkers such as John Anderson and Ian Maxwell held
sway. There he met Ann Barnard, who shared much of his ideals and whom he later
married.
Although his
brother, Darcy, became a leader in the influential Sydney Push, which grew out
of the Andersonian Libertarians, Edgar rejected Anderson's philosophy, opting
for a commitment to the left, which led to him joining the Australian Communist
Party.
He resigned
in 1957, when his discontent over a sponsored tour that included Soviet Russia
was confirmed by the 1956 invasion of Hungary.
After
editing Rebel Songs in 1947 with Stephen Murray-Smith, Waters
worked at the State Library of NSW, where he met Russel Ward, the historian who
was to write The Australian Legend. Ward suggested that Waters,
with a friend, Jeff Way, undertake a recording in 1953 of Joe Cashmere, a
bushman, singer and musician who knew a wealth of songs.
Waters
shared the recordings with collectors Norm O'Connor and John Meredith and
Cashmere's repertoire became an integral part of Meredith's collection in Folk
Songs Of Australia.
Waters
travelled to London, immersing himself in British and Irish folklore, meeting
such figures as Peter Kennedy, A. L. (Bert) Lloyd, Seamus Ennis, and Ewan
MacColl and working as Alan Lomax's research assistant, including on the
seminal Folk Songs Of North America.
He returned
to join Peter Hamilton, co-founder of Wattle Records in Sydney, travelling via
a Communist youth meeting in Warsaw.
Wattle was a
critical success and, for a short time, a commercial one. Its first release of
a recording of pioneering revivalist band, the Bushwhackers, was a chart
triumph.
The recording of revival albums such as Gary Shearston's The Springtime
It Brings On The Shearing, or MacColl and Lloyd's Convicts And Currency
Lads were critical successes.
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