The ABC ARGONAUTS CLUB - The Books and Paperwork

I said I would update my blog more often as I continue to collect and research, so here we go again.

There were approximately 500 Radio Listener Clubs in Australia.  These clubs embraced members of their community and worked hard with their members on various tasks.  Some clubs were charitable clubs, some entertainment, some were fan clubs for Radio Stations, Radio People and Radio Shows.  Some were set up by sponsors to promote their products and some clubs were a mixture of all of these.

But The ABC Argonauts Club was in a class of its own.  It truly mixed education with entertainment and created a listener participation that far exceeded all the other clubs.

Whilst I have included an Argonauts page on my website for a number of years,  I have been building towards updating the pages and adding more material to that section.

The information included here is simply to show you some of the items that are being added (there are more) and hopefully get feedback on areas of how the Argonauts Club worked in their contact with the members.

So, to that end, I introduce The Books and The Paperwork.

The first Children's Hour Annual was published in October 1956.

I am missing the 2nd Annual because all the ones I have seen are missing their covers and I am holding out for a complete version.  If anybody has a complete copy of a No2 Annual that needs a good home, please contact me via the contact page.

The 3rd Annual was published in October 1958, so I am guessing the 2nd Annual was 1957.

The 4th Annual was published in October 1960.

The 5th Annual was published in November 1961.

I am toying with the idea of scanning the books to pdf but I will have to seek permission from the ABC first.

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In 1960 Dangerous Secret was published.  This book was a collaboration between presenters and members.  I love that they listed the Artists and Authors involved in the project.

In 2018 I conducted several presentations on Australian Radio Listener Clubs, one of which was at my local U3A. Endymion 26 contacted me and generously offered me her Argonauts books.  Whilst they were books I already had, the fact that two of them contained Book Prize certificates was exciting.  But Endymion 26 had another surprise and her story can be found in 'Readers Contributions' along with another Argonaut's story.  I cannot stress enough, how important it is to hear about a club directly from someone who was a member.  I hope I receive more of these for the various Radio Listener Clubs. 

In 1962 'The Gold Smugglers' another collaboration.  This book belonged to Endymion 26 and contained the Book Prize Certificate. 

I am not aware of any further collaborations or book releases.  So please, if you know differently, let me know.

I also had a copy of 'The Gold Smugglers'.   But my copy had a major difference.  My copy has the signatures of most of the collaborators.

How did this come about?  Does anybody know?  It would have taken quite a bit of organising.  Was there a reunion and members signed?  There are signatures of presenters as well as the members.  Looking at Joanna Short, Plato 33, that looks like it would have been done at the time of the project rather than a reunion years later.

Did each of the collaborators have their copy of the book signed?  So many questions.  I really hope somebody does have the answers.

Linda Price, Oricus 28, generously gave me permission to use scanned images of her certificates on the website as well as in the forthcoming book on the Radio Listener Clubs.  We owe so much to club members like Linda Price who have kept the paperwork for all these years and didn't lose or throw them away.  With fires, floods and time, its a miracle so much does survive.  Linda is also looking for her spare Blue Certificates to scan.  To date I have been unable to find any.  Sadly, Linda doesn't know what happened to her badges.

Some of this paperwork is out of order, but it will be in order when laid out on The ABC Argonauts pages.  The following is an example of the acknowledgment of receipt of a contribution from the member.  A contribution could be in the form of a picture or short story for example.

The ABC Weekly magazine contained The Argonauts page.  That page contained news, contributions received, upcoming outings or updates on outings that took place.  It also contain the application form to become an Argonaut member.

Recently some Argonaut members supplied me with some rough photos of their Dragons Tooth and Golden Fleece badges.  I am looking for better images, but at least it helps me to identify the badges if I am lucky enough to find them.  I have been searching for 20 years now.  Those members value their badges and do not want to part with them and I fully understand.

However, if you have these badges and are looking for a good home for them, please keep me in mind.  If you have children and grandchildren lined up to take them, great.  I do not want to deprive them.  If however, there is no family interest, I would value them.

Dragons Tooth Badge

Golden Fleece Badge

Well that brings you uptodate with my current work on the Argonauts.  I will be adding photos of the presenters, taken from the Annuals as well as other magazines I have.  I will also add some ABC Weekly Argonaut pages from  my radio magazine collection.  I also need to scan a scrapbook put together by an Argonaut member.  I now have a book scanner so I can undertake that project.

If you have any questions, corrections, or want to tell your story, please contact me via the contact form on this site.  If you haven't yet looked at the Argonaut pages, please take the time to do so.

Ian Grieve