| John died during the night of Wednesday 28th of March after a long and extraordinarily brave battle with cancer. Today we have come together to mourn John’s passing but also to celebrate his life. And there is such a lot about John’s life to celebrate. John was a fine teacher, a gifted writer, a talented musician, a loyal and trusted friend, a loving son to his parents, including his dear mother, Maria, who is here with us today, and, above all, a devoted, loving partner to his wife, Anna, and an adoring father to his daughter Vicki.
First, let’s begin by remembering John the teacher. I first met John at Evans High School at Blacktown in 1988. I quickly realised how incredibly lucky I was to have John, and also his long-time teaching colleague and friend, Helen, among my colleagues in the History faculty.
John and I remained close friends ever since those days at Evans. He transferred to St. Clair High School in 1989 and taught there until late last year.
Shortly before John died, he was visited in Nepean Hospital by a high ranking official from the Department of Education who presented him with a medal in recognition of his many years of dedicated service to public education. John appreciated that.
Piewca Góry Kościuszki nie żyje
Wspomnienie o Johnie w Radiu SBS
When I visited the hospital the following day, I jokingly said to John that, considering the schools that he had taught in, he really should have been given a chest-full of medals – something like those that used to be worn by old Soviet generals at military parades. Even in his terribly weakened condition, John had a chuckle about that. But it wasn’t entirely a joke because John spent his entire teaching career working in tough schools.
John worked in those schools because he passionately believed that every child, and especially the underprivileged and disadvantaged, deserved a good education. This was a fundamental part of John’s ideal of social justice. And John was able to work in those schools because of his qualities as a teacher and as a genuinely decent man. John brought real academic depth to his teaching but, more importantly, he brought great patience, a keen sense of humour, and compassion in handling the problems presented by many students.
A few months ago, I was talking with one of John’s former students from St. Clair High. When I told her of his illness I could see that she was deeply saddened. She said that John was her favourite teacher because he made History so interesting and always cared about and encouraged his students.
Now let’s turn to John the writer and musician. In 1991, when I approached David Kellock at Heinemann publishers with an idea for a new kind of text on Australian history, I knew immediately that I wanted John to be my co-author. John had not written books for publication before but I instinctively knew that he would do the job brilliantly. John’s writing was fresh, original and engaging. The resulting book, called Understanding Australian History was published in 1993. It went on to sell over 45,000 copies.
At the funeral: (from left) David Kellock of Heinemann, Robert Darlington, Mrs Kellock and Ernestyna Skurjat-Kozek. Photo Puls Polonii |
The book’s success was due in no small part to John’s ability to make complex historical issues accessible and exciting for students and to present those issues with total honesty. John was probably the first textbook author in Australia to use the term ‘invasion’ for the British occupation of Australia from 1788 onwards.
Some years later, on the same issue and other social issues about which he was equally passionate, John composed and performed a song called ‘Black Armband’. It was recorded on CD by Wobbly Radio for the Labour Council of New South Wales. It was just one of very many songs John composed and performed.
John’s creative work as a singer, instrumentalist and songwriter spanned over four decades. He had an amazing range of instruments, including 6-string and 12-string guitars and banjos, which he played in concerts, folk festivals, pubs, clubs and other gigs in Parramatta, the Blue Mountains, Canberra, Bulli and beyond. In 2001 he won the MUA Song Writing contest. He demonstrated his amazing musical versatility in his 2007 album called Railway’s Coming Through. John won the RBTU Railway Song and Poem Competition in 2009. In 2010, he worked on another album called ‘Music from a Lonesome Road’.
Like all good writers, John drew wherever relevant on his life experiences, heritage and influences to enrich his chapters and songs. These included the struggles of his Polish immigrant parents and his own childhood in 1950s outer Western Sydney. John’s mother and father had also both been teachers. Before that, John’ father had been seriously wounded as a young soldier in the Polish army that fought to defend Poland against the Nazi invasion in 1939. John’s mother later taught Polish to children in refugee camps in Germany.
It was mainly through his music that John maintained strong links with the Polish community in Australia. Mount Kosciuszko has a special significance for that community because it was named by a Polish explorer after a Polish revolutionary hero. February 2007 saw John perform in the first organised concert ever staged on the summit of Mount Kosciuszko. A second Kosciuszko concert followed in April 2008. Last Friday, my brother Dave, wrote to me from Kosciuszko National Park, saying: John was one of the Polish entertainers who put a lot of passion into his songs... It did not matter where he sang. The audiences loved his songs and the people of the Snowy Mountains loved the fact that some of his songs were based on the mountains’.
John with Anna and Vicky on Mt Kosciuszko. Photo M. Kamma |
John was the only writer that I really wanted to work with after Understanding Australian History. Our philosophies and our approaches to writing were so similar. Over the course of the following almost twenty years John and I wrote eleven books together until he received the terrible news that he had cancer. The last of those books will be published this month and they are a tribute to John’s integrity as a historian and his skills as an author.
Most importantly of all, John was a true friend to so many people, a loving son to Maria, a loving husband to Anna and a proud and wonderful father to Vicki. They were the most important people in John’s life.
Back in August 1982, John had met a very beautiful and brilliant young Polish woman named Anna and he was instantly in love with her. John did not want to miss his chance and just five months later, he proposed to Anna over a dinner he cooked for her at his place. It was a very special evening. Anna was not very impressed with John’s cooking but she knew that she deeply loved him. They were married on 3rd September 1983 in the Polish Church at Marayong and they lived together at Mount Druitt.
Some years ago, John wrote and recorded a profoundly beautiful song called ‘Anna’s Here’. He called it a love song without words and I believe that was because his love for Anna was too deep to express in words. John said it all with his guitar. He also deeply loved his daughter, Vicki, who was born on 20 June 1998. He always was so proud of Vicki and I know he was overjoyed when she started at Penrith Selective High School and then topped the year.
John and Anna lived in Ropes Creek Road, at Mount Druitt, across the street from their neighbours and good friends, Robyn and Al, all of their married lives until late 2011. We spent many wonderful Sunday afternoons on the balcony at that house drinking wine, eating Anna’s fabulous food and talking about history, politics, books, music, the world and our families.
In 2011, John, Anna and Vicki moved to Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains. Cruelly, they had barely settled into their new home when John’s illness was diagnosed. But even throughout his sickness, John always considered his family before himself. He was incredibly courageous and he never complained. He remained determined to beat the disease right up until he was told there was no longer any hope.
John was a wonderful husband and father because he was such a good man. I can’t recall him ever being angry with anyone. Rather, the things that angered him were injustice, tyranny, oppression, exploitation and discrimination. John was a democratic socialist, in the very best sense of that term. He wanted an Australia and a world that would be guided by compassion and fairness rather than by fear and greed. Perhaps the world is no closer now than it ever was to achieving that dream but I know that John would say that it is a dream worth having.
At the hospital on the day before he died, I told John that he will never be really gone from us. He will always be with us in our hearts and our memories and he will live on through his books and his music and, above all, through his family. Typically, although he knew that he was dying, John smiled and said, ‘Yeah Bob, I reckon I will’.
John, on behalf of us all, we love you, we will miss you terribly and we thank you for having been part of our lives.
Happy Easter it was - some years ago |
Vicky Hospodaryk: A Tribute to My Dad
My dad was one of a kind. He called me "Gumnut", but he was my gumtree: tall, strong, supportive and full of life. He always made sure he had time for my mother and I, and looking back now at my fondest memories, many of them are the family or father-daughter activities we'd often do. Simple things like playing board games together (which he'd always wind until I finally outsmarted him), family time at dinner table: my mum and dad sipping their wine white I rattled on about my day at school, watching Friday night footy together, taking our dogs for long walks in the evening and of course playing music together, I on my piano and dad playing one of his 17 guitars.
He was the one who taught me to love music, as well as many other things in life, like tying my shoe laces, and how to ride a bicycle. Oh, I remember that so well. The countless afternoons he'd spend giving demonstrations and then watching me attempt only to fall off. But when I felt like giving up, he urged me to keep trying saying "Keep at it Gumnut, you'll get it, you're doing well." And with him believing in me I did get it and never looked back.
I admire the way my dad always encouraged and supported me in whatever he was doing, but I also admire the fact that he could maintain so many jobs! By day, my dad was a simple school teacher, but by night he transformed into an author, musician, dog walker, taxi driver (always escorting me to my various afternoon activities) and of course a professional storyteller. Every noght he'd reserve a special moment for reading me a story, no matter how tired, stressed or busy he was. We worked through a countless number of books starting with the teletubbies when I was a baby to the Harry Potter and Narnia series when I was older. Nobody could read a bedtime story the way my dad could.
So as I reflect on the time spent with my dad, I know he lived a happy and eventful life with so many achievements. We may have had our disagreements over the years, but I think we both knew we loved each other very mych. He was the best father I could ever ask for and I really will miss him.
At the funeral: Vicky with her friends from Lajkonik Ensemble. Photo Puls Polonii |
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