Lester Karaitiana interviewed by Rob Willis for the Voices of the bush oral history project [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 415549
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Karaitiana, Lester, 1934-2003, interviewee
- Online Version:
- National Library of Australia digitised item
- Access Conditions:
- Access open for research, personal copies and public use.
- Description:
-
- 2000 Mar. 8
- 1 digital audio tape (ca. 54 min.)
- Series:
- Voices of the bush oral history project.
- Summary:
-
Lester Karaitiana, boxer and wrestler, discusses the boxing industry and its demise on the travelling country circuit. Karaitiana speaks of his upbringing and family in New Zealand and finally arrived in Australia in 1956 looking for work, offered a job as a tent fighter in 1957 so he joined Roy Bell's travelling tent show as a boxer and stayed with him for 32 years, how he learnt to fight and wrestle, his living conditions as a boxer travelling all over the country, his wage was one pound per fight in the early days, his role in the boxing troupe, the importance of maintaining the tents, his view of Roy Bell as the best of showmen, Bell's work with Jim Sharman, ways of drawing crowds, boxers came and went lasting no more than 5 years but Aboriginal boxers were very good, Bell treated his performers well, showmen were very close and formed a guild, Bell's caravans and living conditions, how Bell's wife controlled the money, how admission prices rose from 5 shillings to 12 dollars, the amount paid to the boxers, the strategy of letting the local man win if he was a good draw card, five travelling boxing shows competed in the early days but the demise of tent shows was on the horizon, Bell died in 1973 and how his son continues to run the tent show in Qld., things have changed to make the boxing shows too expensive such as needing to have a doctor in attendance at fights with boxers only allowed to fight one fight per week (Karaitiana averaged 6 per week), greater rivalry between sideshows making it cut throat, customer expectations have changed, and too expensive to continue.
- Notes:
-
- Recorded on Mar. 8, 2000 at Forbes, N.S.W.
- Also available online http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-217432855
- Related Material:
- Interview with his son, Steve Karaitiana, talking about him; located; National Library of Australia's Oral History & Indigenous Programs collection at ORAL TRC 6575/42.
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Timed summary available (2 p.)
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Willis, Rob, 1944-, interviewer
- Related Records:
-
This belongs to the Voices of the bush oral history project.
This collection contains 176 records. - Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2070 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2000
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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