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The conundrum of Slessor's sixth bell
Sydney Morning Herald: Arts and Entertainment June 3, 2008
Steve Meacham
Five Bells, Kenneth Slessor’s elegy for his friend Joe Lynch, who drowned in Sydney Harbour in 1927, is arguably the most famous poem written about Sydney.
But Slessor’s own rarely seen notebook, meticulously written in his neat handwriting and recording every change of phrase, reveal his masterpiece was very nearly called Six Bells.
Likewise, another document which vividly highlights the frustrations of the creative process is the visual diary kept by the artist John Olsen between 1971 and 1973 while painting his massive mural, Salute To Five Bells, for the Sydney Opera House – a work inspired by the Slessor poem.
In his exquisitely illustrated dairy, Olsen complains about the constant goading from labourers working on the Opera House.
“It has been quite hideous with the heckling from the workmen,” Olsen wrote. “That miraculous silence of the brush moving, and suddenly I’m aware of someone standing beside me: ‘Hey sport, what’s it all about?’ One character kept yelling, ‘You’ll be sued for this.’ And, of course, there’s the weary one: ‘My child could do better!’”
Both volumes, intimately detailing the thoughts of two of Australia’s greatest creative minds, will feature in Hidden Treasures Inside The National Library of Australia, the title of a series which starts on ABCTV tonight, hosted by Betty Churcher, former director of the National Gallery of Australia.
Slessor’s notebook is the most important of 22 boxes of his papers which were donated to the National Library by his brother after the poet’s death in 1971.
“Slessor was famously reticent,” Paul Hetherington, the library’s director of publications and events, says. “His notebooks give fascinating insight into how he composed some of his best poems, including Five Bells, which is one of Australia’s best-known poems.
“Slessor nearly called it Six Bells. In the notebook, he has listed the poems as Six Bells, then inserted Five Bells.”
Similarly, Slessor wrote several variations of one of his most celebrated lines – “deep and dissolving verticals of light” – refining it ceaselessly.
“Olsen’s visual diary shows a similar process,” Hetherington says. “Not only does it have working sketches, but all sorts of reflections on Slessor, poetry in general, practical issues about working on the mural, observations about Sydney Harbour and the troubles he was having with the Opera House workmen.”
It also shows Olsen felt the weight of having to produce such an important work in the Opera House. “ I have to remind myself constantly, forget it is in this great building.”
Both volumes will be on display during a public lecture in August. They are also being digitalised for an online library exhibition about Five Bells and the art it inspired.