| Our guest is John Hospodaryk, a teacher, a writer and a singer who won the Maritime Union Song Writing Contest in 2001. Born in western Sydney where he resides up to this day. A graduate of Sydney Uni. He recently has composed several songs about Tadeusz Kosciuszko after whom the highest peak of Australia had been named.
- John, incidentally your parents come from "kresy", the same area where Kosciuszko came from...
- Yes, indeed, they come from the area which used to be a part of Poland before it got annexed by the Soviets. My father Nicholas Hospodaryk was born in a little place called Nielepowo, which no longer exists as a town. My mother comes from nearby Hryckiewicz. Her family later moved to Baranowicze. She was educated in Nieśwież, and my dad in the Polish army before the War. That whole part of today's Belarus used to be part of Poland.
My dad served in the Polish army during the War. He was there when the bullets started flying in Sept 1939. He was shot through the gut in the retreat to Warsaw. The Germans took him to the infirmary and soon released him.
His family were over on the Russian side of the division of Poland, and, arms over crutches, that's where he went. Much to his regret, because he quickly realised he had gone out of the frying pan and into the fire. Still in his sergeant's uniform, he was intimidated by Russian border guards. "Did you ever hit your soldiers in the mouth!" they yelled. "No'" he calmly replied, "It is against regulation in the Polish army to strike your soldiers".
There's a scene in Agnieszka Holland's film "Europa Europa" when the hero is trying to flee to the Soviet side. Although he insists he is a Jew, the Soviet border guard accuses him of being a spy. "Yeah, THAT'S true," said my father when he watched the film, "That's how it really was".
Anyway, after a while he did a teacher's course in the Soviet system, but before he could get very far with that, Stalin's "ally" Hitler came, causing considerable disruption once again. My mother, whose maiden name is Kapusta, joined him in fleeing westwards, trying to get as far as possible away from the eastern front.
After the Americans liberated the part of Germany they had found themselves in, my father joined the American army as an MP. He guarded SS officers accused of war crimes. My parents finally came to Australia in 1949.
- Have you ever visited Belarus? Are there any relatives of yours still living there?
- Yes, the rest of the family still lives there. We keep in contact. I visited them once in 1993.
- John, would you know how many songs have you written altogether?
- I couldn't count them. Many over the years. I got my first guitar in 1964, and went on to write a lot of songs in the decade that followed. I did few gigs in the 70s and 80s. The downside of that was that I wrote few songs. The upside was that I honed my skills as an instrumentalist. That's why I can play so many different styles. Then I really got cracking in the 90s again with gigs, and with my newfound audiences, the writing of songs. However, to date I have only ever released two songs commercially. I have a lot of material recorded and intend to release a CD very soon.
- OK and how many instrumentals have you composed including the recent beautiful melody called "Kosciuszko paper daisy"?
- Also, quite a lot. Possibly 20 or so. Some gigs I might play more instrumentals than songs.
- If you happen to sing the songs about Strzelecki and Kosciuszko – do you tell people the background story? And if so, what is their response?
- I do sing them at gigs, and I go to much trouble introducing them. At a recent folk club gig I played a polonaise from the Kosciuszko CD before launching into "The General's Song". People are generally fascinated by what I have to say...and play. 
Kosciuszko in America |
- You sing about western suburbs and live there as well. Is Mt Druitt a safe place to live?
- As much as anywhere in Sydney. Much of the negative attitudes to it are based on uninformed class prejudice, as far as I'm concerned.
- What are your other hobbies apart from singing?
- Well, of course I'm an author. Writing and music take up almost all of my leisure time. I regard them as work more than hobbies. I like to work on the computer too, especially building websites.
- We have met your wife briefly at Polish Christmas in Darling Harbour. What is she doing?
- My wife Anna is a data analyst, and she's very good at it. She enjoys it, which impresses me because when I look over her shoulder as she's sitting at the keyboard I am amazed that anyone can find computer programming interesting.
- You have a daughter who, I hope, has inherited your lovely voice.
Anna, Victoria & John Hospodaryk |
- My daughter Vicki is 8 years old and is learning the piano. She sings quite well. She's been rehearsing "I'm a Believer" for a school concert. I can't say I've got all that lovely a voice though. Actually I'm not a big fan of my own voice. I think I prefer others to sing my songs.
- You are an author of several books. Are you planning to devote more time to creative writing?
- Now that John Howard is having his History teaching summit I intend to get back into writing. Not because there's an opportunity, but because I know there is a hidden agenda to create a bullshit boys' own bumper book of heroic men and their deeds: Bradman and his bat, Kingsford-Smith and his plane, Simmo and his donkey, Menzies and his eyebrows, and to delete other issues, like the gains of trade unions. It's up to people like me who really do have a passion for this nation's history to present the story as it should be written, and to stir the students' critical faculties. Would the Prime Minister include, for example, the following fact and date: ACTU gains for women equal pay for equal work 1972? I doubt it. If he does, it'll be begrudgingly. Yes, I'll be writing again in the near future.
- I know you love travelling.Can you mention just a few favourite places in Australia?
- Canberra, the dead heart from Alice to Uluru, Blue Mountains, Cairns to Cape Tribulation, and with Sydney there's a love-hate relationship.
- John, thanks for talking to us.
- My pleasure.
John Hospodaryk got his HSC in Rooty Hill High School (1970).He got his BA Diploma in Education at Sydney University in the early 70s. Majored in History, English and Government. In early 80. had obtained his MA in English literature.
John has taught History, English, Music in western Sydney: Shalvey High School, Evans High School, Dunheved High School, and currently at St Clair High School.
John Hospodaryk has several books (all published by Heinemann) to his credit:
1. Understanding Australian History (1993)written with Robert Darlington
2. Understanding World History (1994) with Robert Darlington and Vicki Greer
3. Ancient and Medieval History (1996) with Robert Darlington, Vicki Greer and Robert Engwerda
4. History Links: Ancient and Medieval(2000) with Robert Darlington, Vicki Greer and Patrick Burke
5. History Links: Australia and the Twentieth Century (2001) with Robert Darlington and Pam Cupper
6. Australia Since 1901 (2004) with Robert Darlington and Vicki Greer
7. Australia in the Twentieth Century (1998) with Robert Darlington and Geraldine Carrodus
8. A History of Australia Since 1901 (1999) with Robert Darlington
John is also an author of 2 teachers' resource books, and of an unpublished novel.
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