Left: Robert Walker, Ian Fairweather (Hut Series), 1966. Gelatin silver photograph, National Art Archive, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. © Robert Walker / Copyright Agency, 2019. Previous spread: Robert Walker, Ian Fairweather (Hut Series), 1966. Gelatin silver photograph, National Art Archive, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. © Robert Walker / Copyright Agency, 2019. First page: Sam Hawkins, Ian Fairweather standing outside his hut on Bribie Island, late 1960s. Gelatin silver photograph. Courtesy Bribie Island Seaside Museum.
Letter, Ian Fairweather to Rosemary Waters, 17 January [1966], with impressions from a rubber copy of Fairweather’s Chinese name seal, ‘Fei Yi’an yin’, and the original stone seal carved by Irving Groupp. Fairweather collection. © Ian Fairweather / DACS. Copyright Agency, 2019. Letter 251. (See letters 186, 194, 232, 234.)
19 SEPTEMBER 1965 – OCTOBER 1969
PERCEIVING FORCES in the art world to be conspiring against him and tormented by unwanted distractions, in August 1965 Fairweather on impulse fled to India, where he hoped to paint undisturbed. From Singapore he travelled by boat to Madras, where he languished with dysentery, which soon forced his return to Australia. In June 1966 his brother Arthur made a surprise visit to see him, the only sibling who ever ventured to Australia, encouraging him to think again about returning to London, or Jersey where Arthur himself had recently retired.
In the later years of his life, Fairweather – always sensitive to stress – suffered considerable anxiety as a result of his misapprehension that works attributed to him in exhibitions and reproduction were not his creations, the alleged theft of several paintings, and tax problems. He was especially disturbed after viewing his retrospective exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery. It was the first time he had seen so many of his paintings displayed together and properly lit, and he refused to believe that many of them were his own.
Planning to spend his last days in England, in late 1966 he made two trips to London in close succession but on both occasions he felt out of place and out of touch. Realising that his dream of returning was impossible, he came back to Bribie Island. He was awarded the John McCaughey Prize in 1966 for Monastery (1961), considered by some to be his greatest painting; Fairweather disowned the work. Problems with possums and rats and the long trek for water made his living circumstances untenable. Increasingly frail, in these later years he had numerous treatments for skin cancer. In 1969 he observed: ‘I seem to have grown old suddenly in the last two or three months. My legs have given out on me’. In poignant letters to family members he reminisced about earlier days.
245. To Helga Macnamara
Dear PPA Arrived back in the old hut!1–I didn’t expect it would still be there–I had left it I hoped forever!–but marvellously, some kind friends had put a barbed wire fence round it with a notice ‘KEEP Out’–I was very thankful–I had not expected anything to be left–but it was almost intact as I had left it–And I found your letter awaiting me–Very sad for me, as Q[ueenie] was someone who wrote me often and I could write to her in return–about my last contact with home! 2 I dont know what I shall do now but thank God it was so peaceful–May we all be as blessed–Twelve years in Bribie–felt I was getting stale and needed a change–I loved it so much when the Emus and Wallabies came around the door–The tourists brought their dogs–and the dogs brought the Dingoes I think most of my friends have been killed off So set out to try and find a quiet place in India where they dont slaughter the animals–but fate was against it–got dysentery and fever on a wretched Indian boat crossing to Madras from Singapore–and I suppose old age is catching up on me and cannot adapt–I was as weak as a sick cat–could hardly move around in those broiling streets–I had half intended to take the overland route back to London–if all things failed–would be interesting and as things go now, reasonably cheap–but that too was out on account of the war3–So hopped a plane Air India–which I found marvellous comfortable after the wretched boats–If only an air hostess in Darwin hadn’t recognised me–and sent word down the line–Well, it doesn’t matter really–Its good to be back–and I hope back to work–though still with a bad stomach, and feeling the cold here–By the way, what a terrible country Australia looks from the air–all burnt brown and red–featureless–to infinity–it was well-named the ‘never never’ land–
One little spark of encouragement–a friend had found two paintings I had given up in despair and used to stuff holes in the wall–He had flattened them out, glued to boards, cut to size4–! I had missed what I was aiming at but inadvertently got something better–The way it goes–one never knows–So long and thanks for writing–
Yrs Ian
1 On 7 August 1965 Fairweather had flown to Singapore before going on to India by boat.
2 Queenie had died on 25 August 1965.
3 A war fought in Kashmir, along the international border between India and Pakistan in August–September 1965.
4 Janusz Rawicz-Wyszomirski, a service pensioner who claimed to be a Polish count and a ship’s surgeon. Following his visit to Fairweather, Elwyn Lynn wrote: ‘The hut has some Fairweathers incorporated into the outer walls. Fairweather puts his disappointments to work’. Australian, 20 March 1965.
246. To Lila Herron
Dear Mrs Herron
Thank you for the word of welcome back to Bribie–I had not intended to return–and left everything up in the air–but people were very kind and I found the old hut much as I had left it–I was not defeated by the war but a bad stomach
Yes, will be glad to autograph the book if you send it.1
Sincerely Yrs
Ian Fairweather–
Lila Emma Herron (née Lawry, 1906–89). Born Orange, New South Wales. After her marriage to Clyde Herron, she lived on a farming property on the Darling Downs, Queensland. While holidaying on Bribie Island, she had a chance meeting with Fairweather.
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1 Fairweather inscribed the title page of The Drunken Buddha: ‘With thanks and best wishes–from Ian Fairweather–“was ist das schwerste zu ertragen–es ist eine ganze reihen shoene tagen”’. The enclosed note read: ‘Dear Mrs Herron–The verse in German is from Goethe it means “What is hardest to endure? Is too much fair weather”–which hits me right on the nose–Sincerely Yrs IF’.
247. To Carl Plate
Dear Carl Plate–
Lucky you–How much I would like to be in Paris with you–and I would like to see Mark Tobey in the flesh–only having seen him in little snippets–but interesting snippets even so–
I have tried to get away–but am back in Bribie–The East is getting too difficult–or perhaps I am getting too old–I found it full of hitchhikers with rucksacs–
They seem to go all over the world now–and made me feel exhausted–and a bit lost amidst changing frontiers–We wont see it–but one day there will be neither East nor West, or so I believe–Many thanks for the little Harlequinade–inspired by Notre Dame.1 and best wishes–
Yrs
Ian Fairweather
Carl Olaf Plate (1909–77). Artist born in South Perth, Western Australia. He studied in Sydney before settling in London in 1935. Returning to Sydney in 1940, he re-established the Notanda Gallery (founded by his sister Margo Lewers in 1935), where he exhibited British art and sold art books and posters.
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1 In his letter to Fairweather, Plate said he had a sudden impulse to write, likely generated by a visit to a Mark Tobey show: ‘Nothing like your paintings in style of course, but somehow connected by a persistent integrity’. The letter and a small abstract painting on card signed ‘Carl Plate Paris 65’ were among the items rescued from Fairweather’s hut after his death by his friend and fellow artist Lawrence Daws.
248. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett.
Thank you for letter and cheque–
We are getting a heat wave here–everything very sticky & wet–A few days ago it was flies–A swarm from somewhere that was even found 5 miles out at sea–now getting better and hope soon be gone–most unusual for Bribie–You ask about my sister who died–name of Waters, living in Norwich–My eldest sister 93 also lives in Norfolk with her daughter who is a grandmother–a large household–
The relation in Cheyne Walk, (how, I wonder, did you hear of her?) is almost not a relation a very distant Scotch cousin–née Ken[n]edy now Griffith–Scotch cousins remain cousins however distant–My aunt name of Thorp now in a nursing home in Brisbane is an Australian Her daughter who married an engineer–lives in London–and is also called Griffith–all rather confusing–Another aunt also called Thorp lived in Australia with a large family–with all of whom we have completely lost touch
Glad to hear you had an enjoyable trip–nothing of note at this end–Waiting for Goddo1–
Sincerely Yrs Ian Fairweather–
1 A reference to the play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, first performed in Paris in 1953.
249. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett,
Hang Wisomirsky!–
What a nuisance people can be–I left those paintings behind as quite worthless–Two of them were used to stuff holes in the wall
But he rescued them and mounted them on boards–and, must admit the two from the wall looked better than I had thought–Still I am sure it is not worth your while to go and see them–
What does he want to do any way Sell them?
Sincerely Yrs
Ian Fairweather
250. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett–
Thank you very much for the Christmas hamper which I am thankful to say–this time–arrived intact–no broken bottles–
But much as I like Chinese food–they dont understand–tinned food–Cut up a chicken with an axe–bones and all and put it in a tin–or a goose or a duck–It’s just murder–I once got, during the war–a tin of New Zealand rabbit–only the one tin–but I still remember it as the best thing out of a tin–Yet or Since–
The Rosella Co. seems to have a good cook and all their tins are eatable–As a consumer in the tin market–I’d be sunk without them–‘Imperial’ my old standby for so many years has gone–and ‘Swift’ who replaced him–has now gone also–so it is not easy pickings these days–in the tin market–
Glad to hear all goes well with you–if it wasn’t for the legs–I could almost say I was feeling better–Best regards to yourself and Mr Bennett– Yrs. Ian Fairweather
251. To Rosemary Waters
[Two large red impressions from a rubber copy of the Chinese name seal ‘Fei Yi’an yin’ (Seal of Ian Fairweather)]
Dear Rosemary
[One purple impression from the stone Chinese name seal ‘Fei Yi’an yin’ carved by Irving Groupp]
These are two impressions of the rubber seal. I had made from the stone one1–Given me in return for a copy of the ‘Drunken Buddha’ by an American seal cutter–It is my name in Chinese script–費 Fei–the nearest they go to Fairweather and i-an–as much as they permit in the way of Christian names–
It means ‘increment’ and ‘an’ means ‘peace’–Note that An 安 is an ideagraph a roof 宀 under which sits a woman–女
You know there is an awful lot in these idea-graphs. Four thousand years of thinking and living–not to be sniffed at–
Yours Ian Fairweather–
Rosemary Corisande Waters (1916–2005). A niece of Ian Fairweather, born in Beaumont, Jersey, the daughter of Annette (Queenie) Waters and Walter Waters. On Fairweather’s death in 1974, Rosemary was named as his principal beneficiary and copyright holder.
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1 The rubber stamp was probably made at the Bribie Star newspaper office. See a later advertisement for rubber stamps in the Bribie Star, June 1971.
252. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett–
Rather sorry to hear you have moved from the old address1–I cant imagine the new one–Will have to come down some time and see it–And yes, of course I got the photo of you and the arch2–I thought I had told you I was so pleased with it, I nailed it up where it could be seen and enjoyed–
The Lands Office have had an application for a lease of the land here3–Sent in by amongst others, the Macquarie Gallery–he said–A low fellow who walked in without knocking and found me in bed–Had he not got out quick I should have had to throw him out–The councillor here suggested I should send in an application–but I never have I did apply for the old cowshed but was refused–and am not altogether sorry–it was too near the pensioners reserve for comfort–it has since been turned into a stable and trodden into mud–I dont want to stay here–I hope to spend my last days where I spent my first days–in London–if I can find a place with a bath and without a rapacious landlady–As for painting–the same old pain in the neck, about all I can say of it–
Thanks for the letter and cheque–and best wishes for the Macquarie in its new home–Sincerely Yrs
Ian Fairweather
1 The inaugural show at Macquarie Galleries’ new premises, 40 King Street, Sydney, 9–21 March 1966: ‘The New Gallery Exhibition’.
2 The piece of driftwood elsewhere referred to as the ‘Q’.
3 Treania Smith and Mary Turner had written to the Queensland premier requesting consideration be given to granting Fairweather a lifetime lease of the Crown land he was living on, thereby giving him access to a water supply. This was done with the support of Margaret Olley and others.
253. To Ian Alister Fairweather
Bribie–4057. Qld. [c. February 1966]
Dear Ian– Have you converted to decimal currency yet1–The dollar here is roughly about the same as the American dollar–but when it comes to converting it to pounds–I get confused–I shall never learn to think in dollars–I have to convert it to pounds–before I realise what it means in money–for money to me is still the pound–and always will be–
I dare say it is simple enough–but it still is a foreign language and needs some translation before it sinks in–
Have you moved yet to your island2–
And how do you manage for transport–Have you a boat of your own–I have become suspicious of islands–This was one once–and almost untouched by man–But the glory is departed–with all my friends the beautiful harmless animals–
And if one cant go with them, an island can become a prison–Of course if you should call in here I should be glad to see you–Offer you a beer perhaps–a walkabout in your car–I have none–and also alas no legs–
Yrs Ian Fairweather
1 Decimal currency had been introduced in Australia on 14 February 1966. New Zealand followed in 1967.
2 Waiheke Island near Auckland, New Zealand.
254. To Donald Friend
Dear Donald Friend– So nice to hear from you again and the books–Many thanks–I am dreaming of an attic in London with a northern light, and electric light–and a hot water tank and a bath in the corner–and complete anonymity–Something no doubt I shall never realize–
The Tax people have just amputated my legs–and the possums have got under my skin–So I know I shall miss them–I’ve just been thinking–in the old star charts–The Great Bear and the Little Bear1–they have long tails–and how can that be–??
Unless the old astrologers had seen a possum against the moon–Because–the more I see them–I have no doubt they are really bears–their tails not withstanding–Like in Zamboanga–‘The monkeys have no tails? They were bitten off by whales–in Zamboanga’–Something like that–and there by hangs a tail–!
Now to go to bed with Agatha Christie–a great old gal–but getting as long in the tooth as I am–I got a stimulating pamphlet from The Stewart Edward White Society of Kurrajong Heights. NSW. 2 I still feel the sun is rising Somewhere in Science Fiction–
Yrs Ian Fairweather
1 The constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Ursa Major contains the group of stars commonly called the Big Dipper, one of the most recognisable patterns in the northern sky.
2 A reading club formed to honour the work of the American writer and conservationist Stewart White, widely admired for his metaphysical and motivational writings.
255. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett–I am returning your cheque–For one thing I feel I have not earned it–I have not sent down any painting for a long time–For another I have put in for the old age pension–I am not in need of it at present–but if I should go to England–I would certainly need it–and having it here makes sure that I can get it there–If I make any money on the side I would not be entitled to it–or they would take it away or something So please keep this cheque for me against a rainy day–Not much news–
The Easter crush was bigger than usual–such fine weather–but back to normal again–I hear 醉佛 (Drunken Buddha) is being published in ‘Werk’–a Swiss art magazine1–So it is going places I am so glad, –for I am getting so lazy I dont know that I want to go anywhere
Sincerely Yrs
Ian Fairweather
40 Kings
1 Publication of The Drunken Buddha was listed in Werk, vol. 52. no. 10 (1965).
256. To Rosemary Waters
Dear Rosemary– I am wondering how you are getting along–How things are working out for you–are you still at the same address–? Been a long time since I had any news–Do you have any time or taste for reading–It is about all I have got–and thank God my eyes still hold out–Last time I saw you–The Red House Mill Hill–seems a whole age away–I guess you hardly remember it–Will you let me know if you move–I would like to keep in touch–I am always just now on the point of packing up and going to London–Still think of it as home–but dont know how long I might be looking around before I could find a place to work in–London is so full I hear with imported blacks–and the sort of place I want–a workshop, is the sort of place they want too–My grass hut here is being destroyed by these little possums–charming creatures like little bears with long tails–cant resist feeding them So they come and live with me–and make holes in my thatch–so when it rains–its hell–
Have you any politics or phobias?–How does the job work out–What do you do for recreation–How is Mrs Brotherton–Are you bored–are you happy? Drop a line Sometime
Yrs Ian–
257. To Margaret Olley
Dear Miss Olley–
I have two books you lent me–Bali and India–I will return them soon
Dont know if I can continue to live–here–
Too many things against it–
Very tired of having trouble with people–
being publicised wherever I go–or whatever I do–Quite impossible to paint–too upset to settle down to anything–
I would like to thank you for all you have done for me–but have only words–
So say no more at the moment
Wishing you well– Yrs Ian Fairweather
258. To Arthur Fairweather
Dear AD. Thanks for the Maori Paintings which alas were not Maori paintings but thanks for the thought any way–Did you see Madge?1 You did not say–This publicity (as intended) is bringing all the rats–like scum to the surface. I dont know how long I may be able to stick it out here–So I want to ask you to keep an eye open for barns–I need badly space–40 x 25 at least That old loft I had in St Aubin–at the black smiths place2–Is it still there? and could I have it back–it would need some alterations–a private entrance as they used to look up the yard at night–and a toilet–but that could easily be arranged–not much chance I expect but please have a look round If there are any possibilities–any where–let me know–Thanks for the coat etc–Since you left the weather has turned bitter cold–and I am very grateful for them at night–
So long, bon voyage–Yrs ian
Arthur Duprè Fairweather (1883–1969). Ian Fairweather’s older brother, the sixth-born in the family and the third son. Born in Dharamshala in the present-day Indian state of Himachel Pradash, he had a successful career as a railway engineer in Bolivia. He later lived in the United States and in retirement on Jersey, where he had married Lelia Alice (née Chapman) at St Aubin in 1912. Arthur’s visit to Ian on Bribie Island in June 1966 was unannounced. The two brothers had not seen each other for sixty-two years.
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1 From Brisbane, after his visit to Bribie Island, Arthur Fairweather had travelled to New Zealand to visit Ian Alister Fairweather, and then to Fiji, and Los Angeles where his daughter lived, before returning to his home on Jersey. Margaret Brock-Hollinshead was Ian Alister Fairweather’s mother and the widow of elder brother James Fairweather. See ‘Some Turn Up for Ian!’, Telegraph, 29 June 1966.
2 This is the first known reference to Fairweather having a studio on Jersey that was independent of his home.
259. To Arthur Fairweather
Dear AD– My place has been robbed all my work for a year I was hoping to bring back to England–to start off in a new place–all gone–The place wasn’t broken into–The lock must have been picked It wasn’t much of a lock–Only in the last year have I had a lock at all1–The people here were mostly decent–and thought my work not worth taking any way–but the bridge has brought the town riff raff. I rather suspect that cheekey–taxi driver you brought–took the word to some of his pals in town that there was a piece of cake for the taking–Any way Im pretty well laid out–Some of the things I can never replace–but must start all over–a weary grind–and dont quite see how I can get any security here–even with a new lock–My things take a long time to do and I have to keep them all round me as I dont finish off one at a time but keep about 20 cooking–Bad business–dont know what I am going to do–but it now makes a refuge in Jersey a serious consideration–Please–Seriously keep a look out for barns–lofts etc.2
Yrs ian
1 A few days later Fairweather lodged a complaint with the police which resulted in the arrest of Rawicz-Wyszomirski and the charge of stealing six large paintings from Fairweather’s hut, which were later recovered from Rawicz-Wyszomirski’s home. This letter suggests that the theft of the paintings took place on 25 July, likely after Fairweather had returned from a trip to the post office to send letter number 258.
2 Fairweather’s stated interest in returning to Jersey was likely influenced by his brother Arthur’s decision to retire there. In a letter written to his son-in-law Roland Osborn-Smith on 29 July [1966], Arthur expressed a genuine willingness to help Fairweather: ‘Although he hasn’t written to me for years, he is my brother and I would like to help him if I can…I think my trip to Australia may bear fruit after all although Ian is unpredictable. I am glad, however, that he feels he can write to me and that his requests will meet with interest and attention and not shelved for future reference.’
260. To Margaret Olley
[Letterhead: P & O–Orient Lines HIMALAYA] [postmarked Fremantle, 27 August 1966]
Dear Miss Olley–This looks like goodbye to Australia–and I hate to go without knowing the outcome of the plot–I have asked the police to let me know but doubt if they will oblige–They last told me–that Wizomirsky had pleaded not guilty and the case was postponed to Sept 15 in Caboolture–Later Sometime in October to be heard in the High Court Brisbane1–
In the meantime I had finished all the paintings Wizo had not stolen–So there seemed no point in remaining Public relations were strained–especially with that sinister woman artist Mrs Stuckey–an immigrant from New Zealand–who with her 4 brats was undoubtedly part of the plot Just what her rôle was has not yet emerged–But I think it was something very nasty–only that Wizo precipitated things a bit too soon–As it stands it is a frame-up that makes no sense at all–what lies behind it is anybodys guess–I do hope if you hear anything that you will let me know–or if there are any comments in the press, please send–
My last day in Sydney–I went to the Gallery–There were four paintings there with my name on them–Two were not my work at all–One was or had been mine but had been painted over with a lot of meaningless colour The fourth was the worst abstract I have ever done–made worse by being cut down askew–what with that and that viscious Retrospective Exhibition–enough has been done you might think to satisfy any rational vindictiveness–But Wizo had yet to be hired to turn the screw once again–This is beyond reason it is madness–Yours sincerely
Ian Fairweather
1 The court case regarding Fairweather’s allegation that Rawicz-Wyszomirski had stolen six artworks between 19 and 25 July prompted Fairweather’s flight to London. The police later dropped the stealing charge against Rawicz-Wyszomirski and the case was dismissed on 15 September 1966. It was reported that the police would ask New Scotland Yard to contact Fairweather in the United Kingdom regarding the paintings, which were being stored at the Fortitude Valley police station. Courier-Mail, 16 September 1966.
261. To Treania Bennett
19 Cheyne Walk SW 31 Sept 27 [1966]
Dear Mrs Bennett–
Thank you for writing–
I had the most miserable journey with fever and a severe cold–Could not endure the boat any longer and got off at Naples Flew the rest of the way to London Am still awaiting arrival of boxes of papers etc and some unfinished paintings–which at least I can deposit here–
But I can see that to set up another hermitage here–though it would have advantages–will require more time and energy than I have to spare–So regardless of the situation on Bribie–I feel I must return–I am only anxious to get on with some new work–and only crave a little peace to be allowed to complete it–I do not understand why it has not been decided–who the paintings belong to–I am feeling too old to start all over again in a new place–or bother about yesterday–So many of my paintings have been altered that if some are stolen outright it can make little difference–I only wish to God they would leave me alone–to get something done–I have written the police to say I am returning and only hope that the old hut will not be caught by the bushfires when I am not there to defend it–
With best wishes–
Yrs
Ian Fairweather
1 In London, Fairweather stayed with his cousin Ella Griffith.
262. To Harold Fairweather
19 Cheyne Walk SW3 27 Sept– [postmarked 1966]
Dear Harold, Thanks for your letter of welcome. But alas–I find I cannot stay–I have not the time or the energy left to get settled in a new place–It is too late–We are all getting very old–I would like to see you–but as we are all getting deaf–communication in any real sense–is a thing of the past–and only makes one sad–I went down to the old loft in Hertford where you visited me–in the hope of renewing some old contacts but found it occupied by a girl I had known, then 12 years old now mother of a family of 3 grown-up children–It is all of a piece–and there is no turning the clock back–
I am impatient to get back to the ‘Bush’ which never changes and the sun–
I have left a nasty situation unresolved in Bribie–involving a New Zealand woman artist who suddenly came to the island–out of the blue–and is I feel at the bottom of the whole business–inspired I suspect by Madge Brock Holly for Christ Sake!1–Can one never be allowed to live ones life in peace?–How damnable are womens tongues–Bye now all the best–Will write again Sometime Yrs Ian
1 Fairweather’s sister-in-law Margaret Brock-Hollinshead.
263. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett– Your letter and cheque finally caught up with me here. Yesterday–It had been to London and only missed me there by a day–It was very welcome–and thank you too for the German herrings–I couldn’t find any in the Chelsea shops–though I wish we had some of their pork pies over here–I found the old hut with even some more barbed wire round it and as I arrived after dark–had an awful business climbing over the new fence to get in1–I have seen nothing of Wizomirski since coming here–His lady friend is still here–but says she is no longer his friend She comes from New Zealand where as you know my sister-in-law is now living–The police have been to see me and wish me to appear in court to claim these paintings which they still hold–They say that if I dont appear–that the paintings may be given to Wizomirski–They have told me that he is employing a shyster lawer who will throw the hash at me and try to complicate the case as much as possible–After thinking it over I decided not to go–They have my statement and all the evidence–I can bring no new evidence–and am content to accept the magistrate’s decision on the case as it stands–I know they and certainly the public would enjoy seeing a dogfight and a display of dirty linen in public–and that is something I wish to avoid–They have postponed the hearing for two weeks to give me time to think it over–The paintings are of no importance to me–In their present state they have hardly begun to be paintings and much work is required to be done on them–I have taken the rest of the paintings to England and wish them to be left to my niece–a poor legacy I fear–but at least unexpurgated–
Yesterday I had another visit from the police–three from the Valley precinct–They now assure me that Wizo’s lawyer will not be allowed to bring in anything not directly connected with the case–but after their former statement that he could bring in anything–I am not reassured–They wish me to employ a lawyer but that in itself I feel–is an admission that I have something to defend–In fact they want me to make a case of it–a big noise–I believe the magistrate must have some sense–it is not a forgone conclusion that he will hand the paintings over to Wizomirski and I am quite willing to await his decision and accept it, whatever it is–
However there are some days to go–and perhaps more may come to light–One unpleasant aspect of the case–When I had left–the police here received an anonymous letter telling them that my address in London would be 19 Cheyne Walk it came from New Zealand–and I fear that can only point to one person–my sister-in-law–She also refused to see my brother–when he flew over there–it is all very mysterious and indicates I feel–a psycho somewhere in the woodpile–
I saw some interesting stuff in London–The Tate much improved [plan drawing in margin] The old British Museum and its surroundings–mercifully not much changed–though surprisingly crowded when I went there–I was sorry to find the Easter Island head that used to stand outside under the colonade missing2–It was an old friend–Am trying to get down to work and hope to send some down eventually, if they would just stop rockin the boat–
With many thanks and my regards
Sincerely Yrs
Ian Fairweather
1 A fence was erected on instructions by Macquarie Galleries to protect Fairweather’s property after it was discovered that he had left for England during the court hearing over the alleged stolen paintings.
2 Likely the monumental basalt Moai or ancestor figure Hoa Hakananai’a or ‘lost or stolen friend’ (c. 1000–1200).
264. To Treania Bennett
19 Cheyne Walk Chelsea–London S.W. 3 [early December ?1966]
Dear Mrs Bennett. The Court in Caboolture has decided that the paintings in dispute are my property–However–Wizomirski’s solicitor–has written me that he intends to appeal and reopen the case–
I feel that this can go on forever–So packed up and came over here1–before they could slap a subpoena on me–and get me all tied up–It seemed the only thing to do–
The Lands Dept have granted me a lease 2–and the Bribie Council have given me a sentry box for respectability–Everyone has been very kind–So I leave with regret–London is cold–About the paintings–I dont know what had best be done–The police will hold them for two weeks–I shall ask them to send them to you–when released or if released–They are not saleable in their present state–as they are quite unfinished–I hope this will not trouble you in any way–When things straighten out a bit will try and think of something and will write you–Yours etc
Ian Fairweather
1 This was Fairweather’s second escape to London in 1966.
2 Fairweather was granted residential tenancy for an area of land ‘about 2.5 square chains’ where he was living based on conditions including that rent of $2 per annum was paid in advance, the arrangement could be terminated by either side with ninety days’ notice, there would be no subletting or transfer of the tenancy, and the land must be kept in a clean, orderly and sanitary condition. Bribie Star, 11 November 1966.
265. To Rosemary Waters
19 Cheyne Walk Chelsea–Dec 4 [1966]
Dear Rosemary– Thanks for the nice letter and the New Year wishes–I wish you the same–I have been along to the library and been studying the magazine ‘Mobile homes’–all about caravans–There are some possibilities in that direction–and I think I may possibly run down to Exeter–as I know my way about there–and certainly if I could contact the Abbots of Crediton it would be a great help1–So please try and dig up their address–There is also a rural arts council man–there–If I could only remember his name–and if he is still alive–Could be a great help–I fear that in your garden–I would just be a pain in the neck–or even if I wasn’t would feel I ought to be–but please keep an eye open on caravans–and any Art Community like Dartington Hall2–if they could not take me in they might put me on the right road–Cheers
Yrs Ian
1 A family related to Fairweather on his mother’s side and descended from William Henry Abbot (b. 1822, Calcutta) and Anne Blanche Chamberlaine Nicholson (b. 1828, Jersey).
2 A charitable trust in Devon specialising in the arts and social justice.
266. To Margaret Olley
19 Cheyne Walk. SW 3– 14 Jan/67
Dear Miss Olley–
Your Christmas card caught up with me today–I was so glad to see it I have practically decided to come back to Bribie–I only hope the old hut is still there–hardly a word come through from Bribie since I left–so dont know what to expect–Mostly occupied here trying to get some hospital treatment for the nose–
They most want to do some more cutting out–I have been holding out for radiation–I have won that point at least–and am due into the hospital Tuesday–but will not be there–
Hope I will be on the plane to Bribie instead–longing to be warm again
Be seeing you I hope–with best wishes
Yrs Ian Fairweather
267. To Helga Macnamara
Dear Pippa– Sipping some apple juice–and thinking of your acres of beautiful apples–The juice (unfermented) is something new here–not bad–but I wish it were fermented–These hot days–so many juices to choose from–but none I think to compare with the old stone ginger–and what was that the juice of–which reminds me. I had a delegation of birds to see me–So curious I cant help mentioning it–because they are the sort that never come here–Yet they walk in as though the place belonged to them–My butcher birds try to attack them–and drive them away–all to no purpose They walk right up to me–with their heads on one side giving me the eye–The Kookaburra solemn and brooding, a big dark eye–The Magpie (–not ours) fixes me with its blood red eye and bone white beak–as sharp as a dagger You wouldn’t believe the cheek of that bird–In Spring I cant pass down the road–but he drops on my head out of the trees and strikes with that beak of his–It is no joke, he draws blood–The Kooka of course is a darling–everybody’s darling I try to be nice to both of them–they are the islands prima donnas–Such music–but always in somebody elses garden–never mine So I’m curious–The whole thing was curious Of course I am looking for portents–expect something to go bang any minute–not trusting peace–It has been strange coming back–from that filthy kitchen full of cats and hate1–People have really been kind–all the way along the line Even the meanies–no meanies!–incredible at least they haven’t come my way yet–so nice but so darned unnatural in this filthy world Doesn’t bear thinking about–Have got myself so sore from heavy labour and no smokes–No room to think of anything but present pains and tomorrow the next hole to fill–That way it is best–I find–Never to anticipate–A bit sorry about the Westminster it looked a nice hospital and I liked both doctors I met–You might have called round and shaken my hand–That would have been nice–at least I should have enjoyed it–Oh well a pleasure deferred–My hands are really lacerated with bits of tin collected from the dump and hauled through the bush–cried alas the hose again a blumen garten– Yrs Ian
1 Ella Griffith, widowed for many years, had become increasingly reclusive, living alone with three cats in the Cheyne Walk house.
268. To the Art Gallery of New South Wales
C. of P.O. Bribie Island. Q [early February 1967]
Dear Sir. Return enclosed–regret cannot accept1–Did not see the painting The Monastery–when hanging in your Gallery in 1965–But saw a painting called–The Monastery–exhibited here in Retrospective exhibition–said to be mine–presumably the same work–but not my work–So some mistake
Somewhere–regretfully Yours
Ian Fairweather–
1 On 2 September 1966 Tony Tuckson, Acting Director, Art Gallery of New South Wales, had written to advise Fairweather he had been awarded the 1965 John McCaughey Prize for the best picture of the year painted by an Australian artist and hung in the gallery, enclosing a cheque for $400. Monastery (1961) was then on loan to the gallery from the art critic Wallace Thornton.
269. To Helga Macnamara
Bribie–7 Feb [postmarked 1967]
Dear Pippa–By the pricking on my thumbs–Something evil this way comes1–I knew this peace? was too good to last–Rosemary will tell you what Ella Griffith has done to my painting–an act it seems to me so beastly for decent society beyond the pale–and her friend Madge–all past talking about–I wont poison my mind–I am all alone here–not one single soul I can talk to–and from the way things look I am going to need someone–Just one person I can trust and who is not part of the network I wont try to describe all that has happened–All this publicity–always mentioning the big sums of money I get for paintings–It has always sickened one–I see now it is all with malice aforethought–to set me up as a target–a bait for the arts–And they have come–all out of their holes–Greed, Jealousy–it has been a horrible experience–Trying to live in peace here in the bush–seems to bring out the worst in most other people–and raise the devil–I suppose you heard about the theft of paintings from my hut That was only the beginning–and things have got very bad–I tried to talk things over with a lawyer here–I cant really trust him or anybody–on the island here, they have got me surrounded tied up I cant even trust the post office–so maybe you wont even get this–and be wary if you reply–But I remember you have spoken of Australian relations–Could not one of them suggest an honest lawyer to whom I might speak at least openly–without the fear that they are bought–Dont consult Lorna Griffith–it was on her account I had the blow up with Ella Griffith She calmly told me she was leaving my painting to her in her will 2–The painting she tried to throw into the dust bin–So I had to tell her it was not hers to leave–Bye Bye
Yrs Ian
1 A reference to Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1.
2 Fairweather had met Lorna Griffith, his cousin, in Brisbane in 1964. In her will Ella Griffith left a specific legacy: ‘To Mrs. Lorna Griffiths of 16 Alderston Hill Loughton Essex my three pictures in China by my cousin Captain Ian Fairweather (two in the Drawing Room and one in the Hall at 19 Cheyne Walk)’. These were Outside the Walls of Peking (1935), Pailou West Lake (1936) and Market Scene (1945–47).
270. To Helga Macnamara
Bribie– Feb. 20 [and 6 March 1967]
Dear Pippa From my rather wild letter I fear you may get the impression that I am suffering from a persecution complex–an imaginary one–If it is, I can only say there is a terrible lot to support the idea–I might as well say at once that I am haunted by the glimpse of the old age camp they have here–Lines of huts surrounded by barbed wire–like a P. O. W. camp in Germany Full of bloody old men–If they got me in there and I tried to escape–the police could hunt me down and send me back again–It is a nightmare–and it is horribly possible–I haven’t much money left after all these flights away and back again–They could find some legal quibble to prevent me flying off again–a tax evasion or something to strip me of what little I have left and put me behind the barbed wire–It probably sounds to you imaginary nonsense but this is not England here–it is still a pretty raw new country–and there is no getting away from it I am getting old–though I can well look after myself, a case could be made out that I cant–It all goes back to that book about the raft journey–I was there in Singapore without a cent and this offer of £250 advance royalties came by telegram from London to write the book–I knew from the start it was some kind of a trap–and when I got to London and saw the publisher I was sure of it–I had said things in it about my paintings being sabotaged–in Australia–That that indeed was the reason for my making the raft journey–and that I believed the treatment I got in Indonesia was set a going by the same person who had queered my paintings–highjacked all the ones I tried to send to London etc, etc–That was the truth–but it was unwise to have written it–Of course it was never published–and never forgiven–I started trying to send pictures to Sydney–to a dealer who had asked me to send them–in return they sent me money Somehow I managed to get by on it–living in empty huts–a cowshed–an old forge–etc never in a house–Till I made this place here if you can call it a house–Then about four years ago prices for my paintings began to go up–Reviews in the papers–etc–I didnt want to know what was happening to my paintings–But in the papers I began to see reproductions that were just a mockery of the paintings I had sent down–and some that were not even mine but with my name signed to them–
I made some protests–but it was useless–Then this much publicised Retrospective Show of my work which was to travel all round Australia opened in Brisbane–I was invited in fact it was insisted that I see the show before it was exhibited–It was throwing the gauntlet in my face–There was hardly a painting there that hadn’t been queered–What could I do repudiate the lot?–They had been sold–Return the money to the owners–? and who were the owners?–Mostly public galleries–I had tried it and it had led nowhere–I could do nothing The only thing I felt was to get out–I went in a hurry to India but had to come back–I had not paid all my taxes–I was afraid they could freeze my assets–besides it was hopeless–I didn’t have enough money to see me through–So came back–I intended never to send any more work for sale–With the old age pension I thought I might swing it–but it was refused–largely I think by the Sydney Gallery saying I had assets there (There is a means test here, if you have more than £5000 you cant have the pension)
So what happens–as soon as I have some paintings collected in my hut–The hut is broken into–some paintings stolen–I go to the police It turns out to be a Pole with whom I have been quite friendly–They were found in his house–(which is very curious–if he had wanted to steal them he would have taken them out of the island) He said I had given them to him–I didnt want to press charges–came over to London hoping the case would blow over–The magistrate in my absence awarded me the paintings–The charge of theft was dropped–I came back only to get a letter from the Pole’s (Rawisc Wisumirsky) lawyer saying he intended to appeal and reopen the case After the experience in Indonesia–where a word of slander set a whole populace on my heels–I was afraid something like that must be at the back of it–For people who can spoil a man’s work as these people have done nothing is too low–What leant some colour to it was that the police when I left got an anonimous letter from New Zealand–saying where I had gone in London–A New Zealand woman artist came to stay here1–introduced to me by the Pole–You heard of Madge refusing to let Ian write to me–Well add it all up–it certainly stinks it certainly shows I think that there is more behind it than the theft of some paintings–unfinished and of no value–While in London again–I got a letter from the Gallery saying the police had told them the Pole had gone to S. Africa–that he had left his wife and four children–The wife wrote me–saying the Pole had cheated her over a house–that she had left him–
The first thing I saw on returning was the Pole–The Gallery and the police are obviously lying I believe the letter from the aggrieved wife is also a lie–The paintings which should have been handed over to the Gallery or to me are still in the hands of the police–So there it is–the whole devils brew–and dont tell me I am imagining things–As clear a case of persecution as may be–and not a chance to hit back–Keep this letter–it is as clear a statement as I am likely to be able to make but please dont show it to anyone unless I ask you to–I feel there are ears and eyes in the wall–and the end is not yet–
P.S– March 6–
The paintings were returned last night2–and I am working on them–They promise to be the best work I have ever done–really the first that I have ever carried through to a conclusion–But what to do–I cannot keep them here, anyone can break in–There seems nothing for it but send them to the Gallery in Sydney–and throw myself on their mercy–Knowing they have none and that these will be made a mockery of as all the rest–The Pole I hear today has left the island–after a case in court–his wife suing him for maintenance–It should be some relief–but his partner–a woman artist from New Zealand–who mysteriously arrived here about the time of the theft–and was undoubtedly involved in the whole dirty business–remains I unwisely sat to her for my portrait and ever since with her four brats of children she has been in my hair–There is some connection between her and Madge–and it is curious that the Pole has now gone to New Zealand–it bodes no good.
How the Pole first came into the picture–
When I left for India intending never to come back I gave him leave to take any books or things I had left behind–He took some sketches off the walls and two abandoned paintings I had used to stuff holes to keep the rain out–He had them mounted–and then went down to live near Sydney–wrote the Gallery that he had some of my paintings–They wrote me and I told them they were worthless things In spite of that they motored out to see him it was some 60 miles from Sydney and bought the wretched paintings–I dont know how much for–But their explanation was they wished to safeguard my reputation3–which simply didn’t make sense–and of course encouraged the Pole to further efforts–
That Madge did some talking when she was living here I guessed from the changed attitude of several people–including Aunt Kate Thorp–When I spoke to her about it she said–‘Well Madge was very proud of her connection with the Fairweather family’–It didnt quite sink in at first–I am a bit slow on the uptake–but I see now it can only refer to my resigning from the army–I never did know what was at the back of that–and knew I would never get down to the truth about it–so left it in the air–Had I only known then what I know now about human nature!! I might not have done any different–but at least the revelation when it came would not have been such a poisonous shock–
What brings Madge into the case, is an anonimous–letter received by the police telling them Ella’s address in London–It was sent from New Zealand–Whilst I was still on the ship on the way home–I had left no address–
When Aunt Kate heard of the case–she wrote me at once assuming my guilt and advising me to get a good lawyer–Which shows I think that it was no simple theft–The Pole was just a pawn in the game–being played by others–
Since coming back–the Sydney Public Art Gallery has written sending a cheque for £200–a mysterious prize I have never heard of before–for the best painting exhibited there in 1965–The painting is ‘The Monastery’ one of those most conspicuously altered–
I have returned the cheque–it was a little difficult to do–my funds have been depleted by all these goings on–but the trap was too obvious–Many thanks for mention of a possible lawyer–that gives me hope– Yrs Ian
1 Mrs Stuckey.
2 The six paintings that were the subject of the court case had been released by Detective-Constable A. F. Young, Nundah Criminal Investigation Branch, to Treania Bennett and returned to Fairweather on Bribie Island.
3 After Macquarie Galleries acquired the paintings they were offered to the Art Gallery of New South Wales for conservation research. Most were later auctioned with Fairweather’s estate.
271. To Margaret Olley
Bribie– Sunday– [postmarked 7 March 1967]
Dear Miss Olley–
Paintings returned this morning–for which very thankful–Your word to Young must have moved him at last1–Hope to goodness that is the end of that–All these complications have been a bit trying–
My brother I hear is in love with Cyprus–returning this month to live with my sister in Jersey2–
Possums alas, are also returned–and sleepless nights–
Yrs Ian Fairweather
1 Margaret Olley had phoned Detective Young repeatedly seeking the release of the paintings to Fairweather.
2 Arthur Fairweather.
272. To Harold Fairweather
Bribie– April 28– [postmarked 1967]
Dear Harold–I wrote you some days ago and forgot to send it air mail also to put an extra stamp on it So the chances are you may never get it–It was about a Captain Mitchell who thinks he may have been shipmates with me on the Loch Fay–I think he must be thinking of you–So said I would write you and find out–Let me have a line in any case–I am really writing this just to be writing–all my enemies seem to have withdrawn–and things are so quiet–all gone from the island back to New Zealand–out of my hair–where they have been so long–I am feeling quite lonely without them–Better enemies than nobody–Perhaps this is the new gambit–and worse to come–I cant believe that such perfect bastards will ever let me off the hook–I dont know what your experience of life has been–but mine has not improved my opinion of brother man–I wish I could have stayed in London–This influx of West Indians has changed it beyond belief–I noticed you still see few of them in the City–but the West End especially Chelsea as one knew it has ceased to exist I think it will be good for old London–Make it a bit more cosmopolitan–I still mourn the Shanghai that was–and now gone out of the world never to return There were all sorts and conditions and I was blessed with some of the amenities of a civilised life–A toilet–a bath–with hot water–Chinese chow sent in from the market–wines and tobacco without taxes–Books–and youth–
Not a single one of those things remain–
My floor is of earth–and water has to be carried in from half a mile–I am always dirty and almost never wash–By way of company I have only the possums–that hoop it up–swing from the rafters a wonderful performance–all night and every night–till dawn–when at last I can sometimes
Sleep–Yrs Ian
273. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett– Am packing up some things–or will be–I hope–tomorrow–they are just about cooked–I think–one never can be sure–They have given me hell–There are all the ones the Pole took but have had to murder them all to finish them–and now there is not the least resemblance–also there are some others making ten altogether–I hope you will like them–I hope they will reach you and not be highjacked on the way–or subsequently murdered–I hope–
It has been a strenuous week–a possum had to be caught and put in a bag to give Miss Olley–who was coming down and could take it away over the bridge1–also to rig a long pole with a scoop to get two giant toads–the first I have seen here–that had fallen in the well–So much ado–Of course I was delighted to get your cheque but feel guilty–as I am not going to the hospital if I can possibly avoid it The cold weather is good for the nose–So no hurry–am luxuriating and warm under a foam plastic blanket–a wonderful buy–and very happy to be able to write this letter at long last
With best wishes and cordially– Yrs Ian Fairweather
1 The painter David Strachan had driven Margaret Olley to Bribie Island.
274. To Helga Macnamara
Dear Pippa–What is happening to the world–a second deluge–After the floods in Italy1–in Aden–I hear there is rain and cold in America–snow in May–And here it is raining as I have never known it before–If only I had a tank I could have filled it many times over–my three small plastic buckets are never empty–at least I am spared the chore of carrying water from the well–about ½ mile so the cloud has a silver lining–and also it is warmer than it should be–A clear sky at this time means shivering nights–
And such good news from Egypt–a smack in the eye for Nasser2–so puffed up since Suez I had to run the gauntlet of street loafers on the trip to Cairo–The happiest news for the West in years and years–at last a hit back–and of all people we have to thank the Jews for it–what changes I have seen in my lifetime–Beginning in horse-drawn London–Our first visit to Jersey–by the old bus from Sydenham all packed together–then tailing each other in a chain so as not to be lost in the crowds at Waterloo–Then Rocazane in St Brelade3–which we had all to ourselves–The coming of the motorcar–the flying machine–and all the gadgets–the plastics–I am luxuriating under a plastic foam blanket–which even I can afford–And the passing of our Empire–in particular for me dear old Shanghai–my hot water tank–my bath–with untaxed tobacco and wines–It has been tough going ever since–But the hardest for me has been the passing of painting as we thought of it in the West–The only things worth looking at these days are the abstracts–I have fought against them feeling that art was losing its roots that they were throwing out the baby with the bathwater. I am beginning to see I was wrong in that too–Yes its a new world–a wonderful world–But I shall never accept the gadgetry–the press-button monkey business and the moving lights–I shall never accept the machine–mechanical thought–the mass media–the suppression of the few by the many–I shall never get any shopping done today–it rains and rains and rains–
Yrs Ian
PS. Perhaps wars are out of date too–Perhaps now the time of the Mao Mao–of Mao Ts[e] Tung–and Egypt may be another Viet-Nam–?
1 The flooding of the Arno River in Florence in November 1966 killed many people, and destroyed or damaged many works of art and rare books.
2 Israel defeated Egypt in the Six-Day War, 5–10 June 1967, forcing the resignation of the latter’s president, Colonel Gamal Nasser.
3 An area of rocky headland that looks out onto a triangular-shaped rock in St Brelade Bay known as Rocozanne.
275. To Helga Macnamara
Bribie 4507 Qld [late July 1967]
Dear Pippa– The Post Office has assigned Bribie a number1–Cant see much point in it–but that’s it–So glad to get your letter–I’m a lonely man these days–Just sent off to you two letters by surface mail–You will get them sometime–I hope–Not of much import a kind word from a Chinese student about my paintings 2–I value it for I cant as yet detect any dark designs behind it–I’ve grown so suspicious in my old age–After such a cavalcade of hoodlums–But it is wonderful how a kind word–now and then can help one along the road–I wish I could think of anybody I had so helped–Well, this looks like the end of July–it has been a cold month–with floods of rain–Now that my roof is repaired I almost enjoy it3–For one thing it is warmer–These clear cold nights are bitter–and also the miserable chore of carrying water from the well a good ½ mile away–is suspended–my buckets are all full–Talking of kindness–I think I owe my survival of glacial July–to a bottle of Jhonny Walker and four Australian Claret donated by a [Cz]eck picture dealer who has recently alighted on Sydney4–Came up to Brisbane on some business and came down to see me–What a wonderful windfall–! Bless him–I do wish sometimes that most of the art galleries and all of the art business it seems, was not in the hands of females–the [Cz]eck is a wine merchant as well as an art dealer–a most happy conjunction–
You know, you really ought to make cider out of those apples–Bring cheer to drooping spirits–
Papers today are full of race riots in America–makes one wonder about London–Will we get it too?–and how did it happen that the old town is now half black–I cant help suspicioning a dark conspiracy behind all that–In about 10 days is our annual fair–How much I wish I could wander round with you–Its a new city sprung up in our midst–and admire with you the fatted hogs–the manicured sheep–marcelled bulls–All the richness of the land–The horses and of course our most sophisticated equestriennes Makes me wish I could get into skintight jeans and a digger hat–If only it wasn’t so hard to get out of them again–For the rest–I have some surprising adventures on the Dump–Incredible what our affluent society discards I have almost re roofed the old humpy with cast off linoleum–wire netting–Even a beautiful artifact–Well, that is not the word–no human had a hand in it–They were going to burn it–now it is my pride and Joy–A primeval presence–a many armed mandala to guard the door–I hope–
And the work goes on–I feel I have been such a dope–I feel always–I can see the way–among the trees–Always to be deceived–But yet a part of the way–and here down under there are the stars!–all bright and so many–One has to hope–
So Heyho Sing Hey ho–
The happiest days
Yrs Ian
P S.am getting behind the times–
Who are Max and Patsy?
The nose continues unattended–If I leave to get it treated–The Possums–I cant tell you what an affliction they are
1 Australia’s postcode system was introduced in 1967.
2 In other letters to Pippa, Fairweather wrote: ‘bless him for his word of encouragement–Manna in the desert–How much a kind word can help one along the way!’; and later, ‘The enclosed from a Singapore Chinese in Sydney–I dont know what to do with–Haven’t the heart to throw it away’.
3 Margaret Olley and Pam Bell visited Fairweather in early March. Olley had noted he was ‘busy with his repairs to the hut, chicken wire malthoid Paper and old lino from the tip and old corrugated Iron’.
4 Rudy Komon.
276. To Rudy Komon
Bribie 4507 Qld. Aug 24 [1967]
Dear Mr Komon– Molvig very kindly brought down the wine–also a charcoal brazier–All most welcome–and I am very grateful–I could find no indication of the price–Molvig seemed to think they were a gift–But that, I would not like–as I am not in a position to make any adequate return–and would feel the burden of an obligation–At the moment what I am most anxious to avoid–I have no paintings worth the name in my house–and much want to be free to get on with what I have got started–I work slowly–Hardly enough to supply one gallery–and seldom any that I can send elsewhere–However I told Molvig–in 3 months time I might possibly have some work done–and could then perhaps send you some but can guarantee nothing–
So I hope it will not offend you that I enclose this cheque $30.00 on account–and my thanks for your unexpected and kindly visit
Sincerely Yrs Ian Fairweather
Rudolph John (Rudy) Komon (1908–82). Art dealer, wine judge and bon vivant, born in Vienna of Czech parents. He settled in Australia in 1950, and traded in artworks, antiques and collectibles. He established the Rudy Komon Art Gallery in Sydney in 1959, soon to be recognised as one of Australia’s leading commercial galleries.
277. To Jon Molvig
Bribie 24 Aug [1967]– 4507 Qld–
Dear Molvig–Many thanks and it was kind of you to bring all that weight–One of the parcels was a cast iron brazier–Hibachi I think they call it–All so nice–and I am delighted–and I hope Komon sends me more wine–but not as a gift–not with strings attached!–I have written to tell him–I repudiate all ethical obligations–they can be too much manipulated–The Devil can quote the scriptures to his advantage–I have been thinking perhaps there is something about which I might venture to consult you–I am fed up with frames–and hard backs–gilt–varnish–all is a horror–I feel a painting like a tapestry should hang on a wall and not pretend to be a window–I want to know if there are some people in Brisbane who might approach the business with an open mind–and do what is asked–The Drunken Buddha pictures (at least they didnt queer very much)–but they had to go and wax them–for Chrissake!!–Like to hear of someone who would discuss and not try to dictate–and not wax–if any–?
be obliged Yrs Ian Fairweather
Helge Jon Molvig (1923–70). Artist born of Norwegian descent in Merewether in Newcastle, New South Wales. After war service including as a POW on Moratai, Jon Molvig trained as a painter in Sydney. He later travelled in Europe, where he took an interest in the German and Norwegian expressionists. Eventually he settled in Brisbane and became an influential teacher. He was represented by Rudy Komon in Sydney.
278. To Helga Macnamara
Bribie 4507–Qld Sept 10 [postmarked 1967]
Dear PP– Three possums–Mama Papa and Junior scrambling over everything–Knocking paint pots over–This is awful–Can you imagine–!–and all night through–! I have caught Papa–he is now in the parrots cage–I found on the dump–The blessed dump, so much furniture it has given me–Discarded ice boxes–Everyone has refrigerators now–So rich!–and can afford to throw away everything of yesterday–I am of yesterday, so I collect!!
But what can I do with these possums–This is the second generation–I caught Grand Ma–and some friends transported her for me–over the bridge to the main land–But soon after–Daughter came back with a Joey bestriding her–After her came moth-blown old Papa–now in the parrots cage And the pictures go round and round–and never get quite anywhere–Sunday someone is coming with a car–can take away the Mister Possum–Feeding him on walnuts–currant buns–I think he is happy at least!–I hope when he is gone–I can be happy too–and sleep a long night through Sleep–untroubled of Possums–of hope–Just Sleep–Just–So long Yrs Ian–
P S. over
P.S. Sept 11–Both Mama and Joey on her back are in the cage–This seems too good to be true–Papa as he was being released gave me a bite on the finger as a goodbye present–will be more careful this time–But no friend in sight coming down with a car–she will have to be my guest for a day or two–Make a charming couple in the cage–and no trouble to feed–Eat just about anything–You would steal them I think if you saw them–but kinder to set them free–Just so it is far enough so they won’t come back
279. To Mary Turner
Bribie 4507 Qld [received 19 September 1967]
Dear Mrs Turner– Sorry about this Life Line business1 I can see it is more like a lassoo–to get one caught I just wanted to get him out of my hair–and should have known he had some nasty scheme–involving publicity–Heaven knows I have suffered enough
Certainly now I dont want him to have a painting–Could he not be placed at the end of the queue–till he cools off–I dont even know what it is all about–When papa comes home drunk–you call a parson instead of a cop?–How did I ever get mixed up in such a shenanigan–Please Please untangle me if you can and at the cheapest rate–!!
I think the idea of the queue is excellent–and Dr Hirst2 can be put at the very end–When he learns how much he has to pay–and the other poor queueites there will be weeping and gnashing their teeth–
But that is none of my business–I would like to see them all in hell–I would like to keep my last few paintings–as I painted them–to have something to look back upon–Sit on–and not go out of this world naked as I came in–though I cant help thinking it is the only decent way to go–Yrs sincerely Ian Fairweather
1 A representative of Life Line Centre Brisbane had visited Fairweather asking that pictures be made available for exhibition and later sale. Fairweather referred him to Macquarie Galleries. He made a donation of $50 to the Life Line Centre.
2 Mary Turner had written to Fairweather advising him that she had received a letter from Dr P. Hirst of Toowong, Brisbane, and another from Reverend Alan Kidd, Director of the Life Line Centre Brisbane, indicating that Fairweather had promised them paintings and informing him that Macquarie Galleries had instituted a queue system for those seeking to purchase his paintings.
280. To Rosemary Waters
Bribie 4507. Qld. Sept 25 [1967]
Dear Rosery–The ship with the paintings was due Sept 18–but to date no sign of it1–No doubt it will turn up in time and no great matter anyway–they were just a lot of rubbishy beginnings–About the cancer ointment–have made a lot of enquiries–but find it can only be got from the Dr himself in Sydney 2–I would have to go down there for treatment and handover this place to the mercy of the possums–who had reduced it almost to rubble in my absence–Only just finished fixing the roof Also now the bushfire season–I hardly dare venture into Brisbane–So everything stalled–Applying lanoline–seems to keep it in check–Very delighted to hear you have found the book–and herewith enclose key of box3–The larger of the two–you will find the top of it stuffed with newspapers and tinned food–I put in at Ellas to replace some clothes I took out–Throw that all out and there should be room for the book–Then lock it up and send back the key–Thats the best I can do to close that Pandoras box–On the possum front, some advances–Found an old parrot cage on the dump–made a trap of it–and to date have caught 5 possums–There just seems to be no end to them and they all seem to make for my roof–Trouble is deporting them–Have to rely on stray friends with cars–comes a bit steep when I have to hire a car to get rid of a poss–
Let me have some news of yourself–Any books you have read–any plays you have liked–or are you a T.V.ite–a Bridgeite or a Bingo’ite or what–
Yrs Ian
1 The paintings that Fairweather had taken to London, then arranged to ship back when he left there in early 1967.
2 John Belisario had published the article ‘Topical Cytotoxic Therapy for Cutaneous Cancer and Precancer’ in Archives of Dermatology in 1965.
3 Fairweather’s box or trunk containing important personal possessions, notably the manuscript ‘Amorales’.
281. To Helga Macnamara
Bribie 4517 Qld. [28 Sept] 1967
Dear Pippa– Forgive me if I reminisce–I shall be 76 tomorrow and cant help recalling the same date–the same night in 1916–I had made my first escape dressed as a German officer–iron cross and all–Walked through the gate–However I had a German belly made of sausages–suspended round my neck–by a string The weight of it was slowly strangling me–and coming to a patch of Indian corn–where I could hide I had to bid my two companions good bye1–whilst I unstrangled myself–and then buried the German uniform–By that time it was night and the deer started barking–I had never heard deer bark before and thought they were bloodhounds on my trail from the camp–In the early morning I reached the top of the ridge–and bright sunrise though where the camp had been and all the rest was shrouded in mist–I had seen this hill so often from behind the barbed wire–and now to stand on its summit–free–was a great moment–
After that there were four more nights of full moon going down the Valley of the Lhann–Fairy tale country with castles by the river–Tomorrow was the birthday–if all went well I should spend it on the bank of the Rhine–and that night, swim over–Alas I ran into trouble and was caught I spent the birthday in jail–Well this has been something of an anniversary–Last night the hut was surrounded by a circle of fire–After the great wet has come the great dry–and everything ready to blaze–It was already dark when they arrived–the fire brigade–I was peacefully going to sleep–The fire had seemed far-off–Well they had water–(I havent a drop) and made a backfire all round the hut–and my few remaining Bribie pines–A night of fire–all finished now, thank God!–except some old trees still smouldering–and ready to fall–any time–must watch out–A great relief–this threat of bushfire–every year–till at last it has come and gone–and one can relax–On the possum front–spectacular success–I have caught five–and yesterday took the last (I hope) and released her in a distant part of the island–Perhaps I can venture now to go into hospital and have this nose treated–and not find the old place a gutted ruin when I return–Perhaps–! If only history doesn’t repeat itself–Regarding you and greetings–
Yrs Ian
P.S. Looks like history is going to repeat itself–indications of another storm on the horizon–brewing–PSS over–
PSS
The butcher birds have deserted me–For the 14 years I have been here they have been my constant companions–Their cheerful cry to greet me every time I go out, or return–and all around is burnt–a blasted heath–and no voice of birds–Feeling blue–feeling very blue–Just been reading ‘Private View’ by Lord Snowden and others2–makes me feel more blue than ever–The world I once was a part of and now no more–Worth looking at if you have not already seen it–Wishing I hadnt–from down under–it’s a pain and the butcher birds–are they an evil omen? and the magpies that swoop at my head every time I go down the road–They dont seem to swoop at anybody else–
Only the goannas seem to love me–
The reptiles–alone are my friends–
PPPs Some more wooden objects–
PPPPs I dont know, but I think my butcher birds have come back–not deserted happy omen–Hosannahs–
1 Duncan Grinnell-Milne and his brother Douglas. The escape of the three men from Friedberg POW camp on 25 September 1916 is detailed in Grinnell-Milne, An Escaper’s Log (1929), together with a drawing by the author of the three men walking though the prison gate: Fairweather is dressed as a German officer. See p. 5.
2 Bryan Robertson, John Russell and Lord Snowdon, Private View: The Lively World of British Art (1965).
282. To Helga Macnamara
Bribie 4507 Qld– Oct 20 [postmarked 1967]
Dear Pippa– Your letter from Jersey–from amongst so many memories–some of which perhaps I may share–I hope–And here another memorable occasion–My whole perimeter of barbed wire is hung with beautiful clean washing–The first in my time here–ever washed inhot water–In fact ever washed at all–This all because some kind samaritan has installed a Laundromat1–I was too ashamed to let him see the filthy things I put in–I could hardly believe what came out were still my things!!–and without any labour on my part–These wonderful and beautiful machines which nevertheless–I have hated all my life–I must take my hat off to them–I still cant swallow machine age art–which seems to have taken over all of England–When in Chelsea I went to see Tonks old house in the Vale–There was a plaque on the wall to his memory 2–But according to ‘Private View’ a Snowden & Cos publication–The Slade is now a servant of fashion–of ribbons–fabric designs of Madison Ave–of all the Cohens of this world–Homo sapiens, of Tonks the doctor–is cast overboard–They have just built us a new Catholic church–much in the fashion–like a bathhouse–when I dare to say it makes me sick–These young people look down their noses–They really think they know–it all–Well I suppose I used to think the same–I remember when old Le Méstre who lived at the top of La Haule hill3–in a lovely old granite house he had designed himself–which included a palatial studio–asked me to pay a visit–I thought to make a bridge of understanding by offering what I thought constructive criticism of his work I know now what he must have felt–
By the way if you have time–pay a visit to our Jersey Stonehenge–which lies behind St Ouens manor overlooking the bay4–A spot very dear to me and I do hope still unspoilt–There is a nice old church nearby–I hope forgotten by the young–who spit on all such–relics of yesterday–If you drop in on the Toplis family5–convey my respects and good wishes–Yrs Ian
1 Jeanes Laundramat, on the corner of Hall Avenue and Welsby Parade, had opened in December 1966. ‘Modern Laundramat for Bribie Island’, Bribie Star, 9 December 1966.
2 The plaque on 1 The Vale, Chelsea: ‘Henry Tonks F.R.C.S. 1862–1937 Painter and Slade Professor in the University of London Lived Here from 1910 for the Remainder of his Life’.
3 Francis Le Maistre (1859–1940), Jersey-born painter mainly of maritime scenes. Le Maistre’s house and studio Grey Gables was at the top of Mont au Roux above La Haule Manor.
4 Likely Le Dolmens des Monts Grantez, a Neolithic passage grave made from granite stones. The site has panoramic views of St Ouen Bay on the west coast of Jersey.
5 William Toplis (1857–1942) had studied at Sheffield School of Art and later moved to Jersey and Sark. His landscape paintings were published in The Book of Sark (1908).
P S. 2.30 am missed possum with fishing net 3.30 am caught rat in trap–So much for sleep to night
P P S. Afraid too late catch you in Jersey So address Norfolk
283. To Pamela Bell
Dear Miss Bell–Thank you for the card–Kind of you to remember me–
I feel very ashamed about the S F books in fact I could not find any good ones–and also I was not too sure of your address–I will have a look around now and send something–if at all possible
I have just been reading–The White Spider–by Heinrich Harrer–about the first ascent of the Eiger Wand the north face of the Eiger1–Once I was of that ilk and it thrills me very much–I feel life and my studio wall have a resemblance to the Eiger Wand–Harrer was very blessed by opportunity–He was put in a POW camp in India to which I was posted but never went–or I might have met him–He escaped the Camp–Somehow got to Lhasa–where he stayed seven years–wrote a book about it–also the Lamas (the exiled Dalai Lama) life 2–Have read also his ‘From the Stoneage’–about New Guinea3–climbing of course–What a life–what chances–of breaking ones neck–of seeing stars–My brother4 whom you met, is spending Christmas at, of all places–Gibraltar–
Greetings and good wishes for 1968 from Bribie
Yrs Ian Fairweather
Pamela North Bell (1928–95). Queensland-born poet, art writer and critic. A friend to many artists including Ian Fairweather, she bequeathed his painting MO, PB and the Ti Tree (1965) to the Queensland Art Gallery. In her collection Poetry 1947–1989 (1990), Bell included a tribute entitled ‘For Fairweather’.
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1 Harrer’s account of the 1938 ascent was translated and published in English as The White Spider (1959).
2 Seven Years in Tibet (1952); Tibet Is My Country (1960).
3 I Come from the Stone Age (1964).
4 Arthur Fairweather.
284. To Mary Turner
Dear Mrs Turner– Thank you very much for the cheque–A basis from which to start the New Year hopefully–Painting is the usual phantasmagoria–everything and nothing–What you would–but mostly what you wouldn’t–But out of it all–I am delighted to tell you, I have a little hope
Should I?–What else is there to hang on to–Been a pleasant Xmas by and large–Some rats–but also some decent people–And nearly no possums–I have caught 12–and deported them to the edges of the island–There are still more but at least they haven’t–not yet–come to share my bed and board–A few years ago there was never a possum in the place only my friends–the roos–the emus–the birds–one has to forget about that Progress has come to the island–So I am reading science fiction–Trying to believe we are all getting somewhere–never look back
Happy New Year– Yrs Ian Fairweather
285. To Clark Massie
Bribie– 3 am Friday 12th [January 1968]
The 13th possum–
Taken on the roof
By a carpet snake–
Came down with a bang and now rolled in a ball outside the door–
I am not interfering
But surprised!–! and hoping that it is a carpet snake and not a taipan–
very strongly marked pattern–
What do you think
was ever a carpet snake in Bribie before
Perhaps this explains the curious absence of my butcher birds–
Also am wondering about a curious bite
in the night–on the thigh–
whole leg swole up–
Thought a giant centepide–but now
am wondering–
All somewhat disturbing–
Hope all is well with you–
Yrs Ian Fairweather
PS. 4.am. Possum now in snake–snake under my bed–
286. To Rosemary Waters
Going up town tomorrow–so can post this outside the Spiders web–‘The White Spider’ on the Eiger Wand–
I am beginning to climb the Wand–!
Believe it or not–at long last–
Just beginning!–Too early to say any thing–but since tomorrow is free–
Have to go for Xray irradiation–and then spend the day waiting the bus to return–Have discovered–the big stores–where you see all the world–and can pass the time just looking, and get a good meal by the way–We have something to look at here Something I never saw in London–The Brisbane Girl–The flowers–all the time
Its a nice little city–Haven’t been up for a whole year–The hospital is built on top of a rock–looks like the Potala in Lhasa1 You must read that book–‘7 Years in Thibet’–Heinrich Harrer a glimpse–undistorted, of one of the wonders of this world now gone forever–So much to see and so little time–Do you believe in Magic–
Bye!! to catch the bus– Yrs Ian
1 Royal Brisbane General Hospital, Herston, overlooking the city.
287. To Rosemary Waters
Dear Rosemary– Tomorrow to town to write, I hope–finis on this radiation treatment–It raises a horrible sore–which lasts about 2 months–but in the end it clears away–and as far as I can see, leaves no trace–So rejoicings!–Happy Easter Eggs–etc etc–
For two–three months–since the carpet snake came–No possums–!! Yesterday–a shelf of paint pots etc–cascaded–at 3 am–with a clatter–to the ground–I set the trap–and right away caught one–A kind friend with a truck removed him to a distant part of the island But since then at least two more have been attracted by the irresistible potentialities of a thatch for their private purposes–
So starting again from where the carpet snake left me–and the bottom of the Eigerwand–Almost!! Between you and me, there are now along the bottom–just one or two–to stand on and look up the wall–to the White Spider–
A little–a very little nearer–
to the Ohmm–The Egg–The Eiger–
Yrs Ian
288. To Treania Bennett
Bribie [postmarked 30 April 1968]
Dear Mrs Bennett–
Thank you so much for the letter and cheque I dont know what the Tax people will bite out of it–I was almost decimated by their last ‘Provisional Tax’–A year ahead–and now I suppose–two years ahead–and when if ever will one get out from under Well, I am going to keep it in the kitty till after June–Is that naughty–?
But very nice to know–or at least believe it is there–Glad to say the radiation treatment is about finished–but have to return in July–Almost a social occasion–So look forward to it–Enjoy–(sometimes) the cinema–
Am dickering–even thinking–about getting a T.V. If and it is a big IF–they will give me electricity–Being in a substandard dwelling–They can be horribly snobbish–
Yes, I can report a few things moving–Signs of life–But to be born–to emerge–a world away–all the way around and back again–or so–or else–
and still Yrs Ian Fairweather–
289. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett– First day of Winter here–but I am very cheered to get your letter–
The two lads from Nelson & Co1–paid a visit–and took some photos–(with most elaborate equipment)–Said they would let me have some prints–but till now! nothing has come!–I think they were nice people–
So regret at the moment I can say nothing more definite–as no proofs have arrived–
I am glad to hear that Gleeson is still interested in my work–and hope to see him–and hope I shall have some more done by the time he comes–If indeed he comes?–There have been so many–Coming–they said!–but–not coming–! I have got used to not expecting them or anything! Just so the day goes by–Somehow–The nights–!?–They belong to the possums–What a real misery–those creatures have been to me–! Stealing my sleep Have one now in the cage–awaiting some kind samaritan with a motor car–who will help me remove him and at last get some sleep
Thanks & greetings–Yrs Ian Fairweather
1 The photographer David Beal, who was working with David Moore, Craig McGregor and Harry Williamson on In The Making (1969), published by Thomas Nelson (Australia).
290. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett– A lovely mild sunny day–after weeks of shivering westerlies–
I have been trying to find my old bush track down to Pelican Beach–So overgrown with four years growth–it couldn’t be found–But using Kangaroo trails–have marked out a new one–
I dont know why I have deserted it so long–It is a part of Bribie that hasnt altered with the years–Thank God!–! Oh the motor cars–
My legs needed attention and exercise–
So thought of the old trail–Got through to day to the old beach–! but what a forest of bungalows has grown up!! and managed to get back, having blazed all the trees to find the way–
Sunset on the west coast of Bribie–Can wash out the cares of years–I was charmed as I used to be, and hopeful and care less of the bloody future–The thought of London seemed far away–Well I am very grateful for the computuration and apologize for the botheration–and I wish you well–
Sincerely Yrs Ian Fairweather
291. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett– I am so thankful for your letter–and the cheque–Who knows about tomorrow–I dont want you to take any trouble on my behalf–I really dont know what to think–I used to be able to walk to the shops–and back–with a bag of groceries and pick up a bucket (a billy can) of water But recently just had to leave the billy can Too much–!!–So it is chiefly the water The electricity would be a luxury–but the water is basic–Since the legs have gone on strike–I had to hire a taxi yesterday to get me back with the groceries etc–Perhaps if the water people would send me someone to talk it over with–on the site–Something could be done–
About the photos–They were good–But till now there is nothing worth photographing
But somehow one lives and hopes–
I know something–I know I am getting somewhere–Yes sir
Yrs Ian Fairweather
P.S But haven’t got there yet
292. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett– If only it wasn’t so cold!
was afraid your cold had turned to flu–as I did not hear from you–So very happy to get your letter and warmed–though it is still as cold as ever here–
Yesterday the coldest in 5 years, according to the paper–
Some visitors from Canberra–seeking warmth–but sorely disappointed–Liked the paintings–I could show them–Bless them:–have raised the temperature a little–I omitted unfortunately to ask their name but they were not Yahoos, Eureka!!
I am afraid my legs are turning to wood–
and the best I can make is an old mans hobble–
and what construction the locals will put on it–I can too well imagine–But I have bought a new mattress and was warm last night notwithstanding–
Also have found 3 knives long stolen by the rats and buried in the sand of the floor–that I thought were lost forever–Bad news from the electric light people–They cant give me a wire though its no distance–I am not on the grid–Though it is all round me–refuse to connect me up–
Yesterday–the first pelican along the west beach
Feeling it is a happy omen–If it wasn’t so cold
Yrs Ian Fairweather
293. To Rosemary Waters
Dear Rosemary–Apologies! I should have written long since–But the Cold–The Shivers––mid Winter here!–It is hard to believe!–the days are so bright and sunny–but the nights (when I do most of my work) wrapped in blankets So great is the difference here between light and darkness–Hope and despair–
But tonight the July moon–a small sickle in the east, though it is still June by the calendar–The worst of the Winter–I hope is gone–!!
Really very mild compared with your English Winter–but without a stove–(too much of a risk in a grass hut)–it can be severe–August not far off–and our Brisbane show when all the fat cattle walk around the ring–
The sun is warm again–In the sideshows all these beautiful patient animals–waiting to be eaten–Waiting till we learn to get along without their misery–‘Waiting for Godot’
Have you seen or read that senseless graffiti of modern man–without face or features–
It is time true–the Image of man is gone out of the world–and of God also–So we are ‘Waiting for Godot’–Yrs Ian
294. To Rosemary Waters
Bribie. July New Moon– [late July 1968]
Dear RM– Thank God for the Bush–it renews my soul–Such a stream of cars now passes–my door–but still hidden by a few trees the bushfires have left standing–I have to run across the road–to get back into the Bush again–And from there I can get down to the Pelican Beach–through the bush all the way–Though I have to admit I still lose my way in it–as I did today–and came back with a strange plant–Brown nuts that split in half–Two salmon pink wings–widespread–Spectacular–Something for my collection–but wish I knew a name for it–
Yes thank God one can still get lost and find strange plants–Alas–it is not often one meets a strange animal–There was one solitary pelican on the beach last time–but all these speedboats rushing about must terrify them–Heavy birds, they have quite a job to rise off the water–The coldest year in years–You would never believe to see children bathing at midday–I got badly bitten–but have got a new mattress–I was getting a bruise on the hip from the old bark one–now sleep warm–So rejoicing–Yes Eureka!–and some things–New things, on the Eiger Wand–So hope So hope
Yrs Ian
295. To Helga Macnamara
Dear Pippa– The anniversary, 15 years ago of my return to Australia–after the Raft Caper–and to find your letter awaiting me in Sydney–I shall never be able to thank you enough for the kind thoughts–I shall always remember it!–Today is a frightful anniversary–Our Brisbane Show which started in such fine weather–All the beautiful Marcelled Bulls–the beautiful eyed Santa Gertruda (Bramah) Cattle–the Shetland ponies and the Clydesdale juggernauts–And oh! the fleeces!!–The wool parade–and suddenly it all is drowned in a thunderstorm–An all day thunderstorm–The Gods are not kind to us this year–We even had a rocket man this year–you know with a rocket on his back and two in his hands to guide him–He races a car round the ring–Eureka!!–Are we not up to date?? When we arent deluged–?
You know your letter which reached me today was perfectly addressed–4507 and all–but it was 13 days late–and had ‘Try Bribie’–written on it–What goes on with the Social Services–Who can tell–Today all buses trams etc are at a stand still–The crowds for the Show have to walk–We are changing from trams–(in the crowded hours the conductors couldnt collect half the fares–So the City Council have ruled–in the future–no more trams1–only buses–and no conductors to collect the fares–I believe in Canada they have some such arrangement–I remember in Victoria climbing on and having to fork out before I could take a seat–It was a more generous age here–anyone could climb on and climb off–the poor harrassed conductor hadn’t a chance in the world–
So what do you think?–The trams buses etc are all out _on strike!!! The town is immobilised in the middle of Fair week–and on top of that The Deluge–I feel ashamed to be still alive after so many public misfortunes–
But today is an anniversary–After 15 years–and I am not going to say what kind of years–but Down Under–the Never Never–The sun and the dust–and sometimes the Deluge as now–but never the mud–Mud!! at least not underfoot–Aug 15–the sun is out again all’s well with the world!!–Except the strike goes on–So I wont see the Fair this year–Too sad–all those beautiful animals–B[risbane] is still small enough so the animals dont look like displaced persons–you would like it–I think–
Yrs Ian
1 The last trams in Brisbane ran on 19 April 1969.
296. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett–
I have nothing here I can send to this (enclosed)–show1, but thought perhaps you may have something of mine that could go–to help out–
Yrs sincerely–
Ian Fairweather
1 Arts Vietnam, an organisation opposed to the war in Vietnam, had requested a painting from Fairweather for inclusion in an exhibition at Gallery A in Paddington, Sydney. Autumn (1964) was selected.
297. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett–Thank you for sending me the Anti-Viet Nam fancy dress dance–I guess they are all too gay to notice that I have gone as a corpse–Robert Walker has not yet crossed the bridge1–or if he has–has not come my way–at least he is not one of the weekenders–that come in a stream over that misbegotten and still unpaid for Bridge–and mow down–our simple–unmotorised–inhabitants–My last Sunday was a horror–a poor roo and her Joey–and the car didnt even stop to see what it had done–I feel I should be moving–This is no longer one thing or another–a weed-grown back yard to the Gold Coast–God help us all–And London that was–Still something–as I can remember it in the fog and the horse-drawn days–but now–?
Inside–if one can turn on the radiator–pull down the blind and shut out the world–perhaps is still something that was–to a true believer–but isnt no moa–no moa–
If you think so you are squah squa–My sympathies and best wishes to Mr Bennett.
Sincerely Yrs Ian Fairweather.
1 Robert Walker (1922–2007) took up photography after returning from war service and documented the lives of Australian artists, including Fairweather.
298. To Harold Fairweather
Bribie Apr 10– [postmarked 9 April 1969]
Dear Harold–Very pleased to get a line from you–Just been sent a photo of old St Brelade Church–The inside of the Fishermans Chapel–There is an old fresco there I never saw1–Old Balleine the rector in our time died in 1940 2–Present rector called Tabb3–doesn’t sound like a Jersey-man–Wondering if you ever saw the dolmen above St Ouens–a miniature Stonehenge–used to love it–Very surprised to hear Sylvia Lamb in Serk thought she had married the Oxenden boy–one never knows–I might be driven to go somewhere–It might be Serk–Perhaps Sylvia could advise about that–Trouble is–legs beginning to go, cant do much walking With T.V. Serk might not be too bad–but have they got T.V.? a lot of questions–A peaceful night here–for once–Caught the last of a pair of possums that have made my nights a misery–Regards and my love–to the wonderful–Mme Lauvic to Ghissey to Minou4–and Yourself.
Yrs Ian
[on reverse] Dolmen is at Faldouet?5
1 Eleventh- or twelfth-century chapel overlooking St Brelade Bay, and the place of worship of the Fairweather family.
2 John Balleine.
3 William Tabb.
4 Ghyslaine ‘Ghissey’ Fairweather (née Lauwick), Harold’s wife, and their son Cedric ‘Minou’ Fairweather.
5 La Pouquelaye de Faldouet or Faldout Dolmen, a Neolithic stone grave located on the hill behind Anne Port Bay on the eastern coast of Jersey. Fairweather appears to confuse it with Dolmen Des Monts Grantez overlooking St Ouen Bay on the north-west coast.
299. To Craig McGregor
Bribie. May 30 [postmarked 1969]
Dear Mr Craig MacGregor–
Thank you so much–for the book!
It rather terrifies me–So well informed and documented–and yet–
Where is it going?–Towards a ‘Sketch’ or ‘Tatler’1–about our affluent society–here below–??
God forbid! If there is any such it is an imported animal–
I have caught all the possums–(for the moment) and my only neighbours now are large–imported rats–
Floods of rain here–to add to one’s tribulations–and memories–and I dont know what or much care–
Yrs Ian Fairweather
Craig McGregor (b. 1933). Writer and cultural commentator born in Jamberoo, New South Wales. In the Making (1969), a collection of interviews with Australian artists and writers, included a profile of Ian Fairweather prepared during a visit to Bribie Island in 1968, with photographs by David Beal.
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1 British magazines with a focus on high society and fashion.
300. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett–
Not much to say! Bribie is en fête–A Festival1!! but rather a damp squib–Your letter gives me courage–I hardly dare to say that I have any hope–but certainly I am further along than yesterday
Some Jonah has sent me a prediction of Doom–on Sept 11, with advice to get out before the Nemesis–Astrology is becoming a big business–What with the moon and all–and people just love to be scared–Just a little–I am so glad to hear you are feeling better–Congestion doesn’t sound too good–My rhumatoid arthritis or whatever the beastly thing is–is no better or worse–at least till now it gives no pain–Thank God–So no complaints–The Lands Dept–have sent me in a bill for rates this year–for the first time–and I think I mentioned the double (provisional) income tax–which they never refund or rebate–I’d be happier if they would forget about me–and let me forget about them–
Regards and best wishes to Mr Bennett and yourself
Sincerely–Yrs Ian Fairweather
P S. Permission for the telephone granted–if required2
1 The Bribie Island Festival Week.
2 Macquarie Galleries had suggested that Fairweather apply for a telephone line in case of illness or accident.
301. To Treania Bennett
Dear Mrs Bennett–
Thank you for writing and the cheque–
I only get to P.O. once a week–So correspondence is apt to get a bit behind–
For some reason I am not anxious to get the telephone put in, so please dont bother about it–I can get it done if need be1–
And thank you also for the telegram–that is a relief to hear the pictures have arrived–We are getting the rain here–now but my ink pencils seem to have dried up Will have to wait till I can get a new supply–In the meantime–hoping all goes well–and my best wishes–
Yrs sincerely–
Ian Fairweather
1 Fairweather decided not to request a telephone connection.
