31 October 2012
60-year old rare Thai records return home from Australia
HE Mr James Wise, Australian Ambassador to Thailand, presents rare Thai recordings from an Australian donor to Mr Prawin Pattanapong, Deputy Director-General of the Public Relations Department.
Australian Ambassador to Thailand HE Mr James Wise recently presented a collection of 18 rare Thai musical recordings featuring His Majesty the King’s compositions to the Museum and Archive of the Thai Government Public Relations Department. The presentation was made at an event marking World Day for Audiovisual Heritage held at the Royal Hotel in Bangkok on 27 October.
The recordings were acquired by an Australian engineer, Gus Waterhouse, during the 1940s and 1950s, when he lived in Thailand. He brought the recordings back to Australia with him when he returned home in the early 1950s. After his death in 1986, Gus Waterhouse’s nephew Michael Waterhouse kept the records safe in storage in Sydney for the next 26 years.
In collaboration with the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, Mr Waterhouse generously donated the recordings, along with four Thai song books to the Museum and Archive of the Thai Government Public Relations Department.
“There’s a lot of history that gets thrown out and, as an historian, I value the importance of primary records and documents, because they get destroyed so easily and so often. Gus had a keen interest in history and I felt he would want the recordings to go to a place where they would be appreciated,” said Mr Michael Waterhouse.
The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is annually observed on October 27 to build global awareness of issues on preserving audiovisual material, such as sound recordings and moving images.
(Information source: National Film and Sound Archive of Australia)