Half a century ago, concerts were recorded on tape at a tertiary institution in Canberra.

Now, one of the former students at the Canberra College of Advanced Education (now the University of Canberra) has painstakingly digitised the recordings.

Pete McMahon was part of the Poetry, Song and Lies Club, which later evolved into the Culture and the Anarchy Green Society, which performed locally and toured interstate.

Some of these recordings will be played live at the Western Room at the Canberra Irish Club at 5pm on Saturday 22 February.

“I am going to play the recording like a DJ and I’m going to give a presentation and a talk of what each meant/an introduction to each track,” McMahon told CD.

“It’s a historical document for anyone that’s got any interest in those years.

“We knew (former leader of the Australian Labor Party) Tom Uren and quite a few lefty politicians at the time.

“All sorts of things happened. My girlfriend blew cannabis into the face of (Member of Parliament) John Gorton as he unveiled a stone at the college.”

McMahon said most of the recordings were original songs or poems that were performed in front of a live audience.

“To me, it’s a snapshot, like an audible documentary,” he said.

McMahon said the folk club was political, into demonstrating and protesting, anti-Vietnam War, and against nuclear power and weapons.

“We were very committed to pedal power (push bikes) – we were going to change the world.

He said the club was around in the mid-1970s.

“Right through the protest concerts against (former governor-general) John Kerr,” McMahon said.

“It was very much a city culture in that we were very interested in the American beatnik poets like Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.

“Someone would get up and recite a poem while someone else would play the bongos.”

McMahon said they thought the recordings were “nothing at the time”.

“I’ve spent eight years digitising them at my home studio,” he said.

“I was involved in at least 80 of these concerts.”

Giles Cortis was the person who recorded the concerts, and the performers were: Declan Affley, Gary Floyd, Andrew James, Al Head, Linda Berry and Jane Ellis. McMahon and Peter Barber were also members, and Geoff Shera was the founder.

McMahon said it was emotional for him to share the concerts with the public 50 years on.

The full-time musician said he would apply for a grant to have the recordings made into CDs and DVDs, and publish the recordings on his Gig Alliance streaming page: gigalliance.com/artist/pete-mcmahon.

McMahon said in total there were 18 hours of tape, with the digitisation of them not yet completed.

If anyone has any photographs from the club days, or would be willing to take over the project, contact Pete McMahon on 0414 319 588.

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