* Famous artist Tony Rafty and caricatures of top world golfers.
An infantryman sent to Darwin from Sydney in WW11 soon found himself in hospital with unsightly blotches on his body that would not go away . He suspected the tasteless porridge dished up each morning was responsible for him appearing to be covered in camouflage. A nurse suggested he had an allergic reaction to some chemical in his uniform material . While in hospital he entertained patients and staff with rapid sketches he drew which were displayed about the place.
The subject of one of those drawings was a man who looked after a water tank into which potato peelings were thrown to make jungle juice . A visiting officer inspecting conditions in Darwin saw the drawings , declared the person responsible a better artist than soldier , and arranged for him to be sent back south .
So , after less than five months in Darwin, another exciting chapter began in the action - packed life of Tony Rafty, nifty golfer , newspaper illustrator , war artist and correspondent, acclaimed caricaturist, Sydney journalist club stalwart and contemporary of former Northern Territory News editor , the late Jim Bowditch. Of Greek descent – surname Raftopoulos- Rafty, born Sydney 1915, had been interested in art, drawing and woodwork at school and earned money as a caddy . His golfing prowess was such that at 17 he was off scratch . During the Depression he often caddied for the architect who designed the Commonwealth Bank building in Martin Place, Sydney. The architect played golf with several cartoonists , including Jimmy Bancks who drew the famous Ginger Meggs comic strip. Rafty told the cartoonists he was as good an artist as they. As a result of his boast , he was asked to submit some of his work to The Bulletin magazine . When one was published he was “ on top of the world ”.
His involvement with golf was such that he organised higher pay for caddies and helped plan a state competition for them. In 1935 he hitchhiked to Adelaide and caddied for Sam Richardson ,giving him winning advice in a semi final game at the Australian PGA championship. Richardson’s opponent , an aggressive professional , was so annoyed by his defeat that at one stage it looked as if he was going to dong Rafty with a club.
Rafty obtained a job for a year as an illustrator on the sporting newspaper The Referee, but it closed on the whim of its irascible owner, Ezra Norton. Out of work , Rafty went back caddying until he landed a job as a creative artist on The Sun newspaper in Sydney.
Rafty’s younger brother, Stanley , dux of Sydney Boys’ High School, joined up soon after the outbreak of war, was captured by the Japanese and sent to Singapore . Tony , who had been in the CMF, went into camp at Liverpool, near Sydney , where he met an Aboriginal, “Darky ” Barnes , a good boxer, who arranged Rafty’s first ride of a motorbike, a Harley Davidson . That unnerving experience convinced Rafty he never wanted to ride a motorcycle again.
The two of them were posted to Darwin ,and eventually went different ways . Barnes trained as a commando and itched to mix it with the Japanese . Rafty subsequently caught up with Barnes in a war zone and , with the aid of a “looted camera” , passed him off as a cameraman . This stunt led to Barnes taking up photography because he became a Sydney street photographer in civilian life .
From wartime Darwin, Rafty was sent to the Australian Military History Unit, St Kilda , Melbourne, where he became a war artist, designed jackets for the Army and Air Force journals , and contributed to the propaganda effort . Posted to New Guinea by a “Pitt Street commando, ” he was sent on patrol from Port Moresby with a small party which included artist Sergeant William Dargie, later knighted, winner of eight Archibald Prizes for portraiture.
Told not to speak and make as little noise as possible, Rafty became concerned when he noticed foliage moving. He tapped Dargie on the shoulder and , whispering, asked him what he thought was making the jungle move. It was an ambush . Bullets were soon flying thick and fast. As Rafty said, it was no good grabbing the sketchbook so, despite it being customary for artists and correspondents not to engage in combat , he opened up with an Owen gun . Rafty accounted for eight of the enemy and Dargie , three. A member of the party was wounded and he was carried back to base on an improvised stretcher.
From that close brush with death , Dargie did a drawing entitled something like , Saving a man’s life, and it is now in the Australian War Museum collection . In another New Guinea incident, Rafty and others came across an abandoned Japanese camp behind enemy lines . An American PT boat came up and the crew demanded to know who they were and what they were doing . When they informed the Americans it was an abandoned enemy camp, the Yanks rushed about looking for souvenirs. One grabbed a sword. Then they discovered the place was extensively booby - trapped ; they were lucky not to have been blown up .
Rafty was present when General Blamey took the surrender of the Japanese on Borneo. He recalled that war artist Donald Friend had somehow fired a revolver during the surrender which was a stupid thing to do because everybody was tense and it could have sparked off widespread shooting. Eager to find his missing brother, Rafty flew into Singapore in a commandeered Japanese plane followed by another Japanese plane. In the uncertainty around at that time , it is a wonder they were not shot down.
His brother had been a prisoner in the Changi village , a huge area , where prisoners were kept. Rafty insists that it was the village, not the prison where most of the POWs were herded . He was told his brother had attempted to escape with two other prisoners but they had been betrayed . The Japanese had shot dead the two men with his brother .
Savagely beaten , Stanley was thrown back into the camp. Later , he was put in a boat to go to Japan to work in coal mines . However , the vessel was torpedoed by a US submarine . The submarine surfaced and after 91 survivors were taken aboard the captain said he could take no more because he felt they were a sitting duck in the event of a Japanese attack. Rafty subsequently learned from two of the submarine crew they could have rescued more . His brother was , in all probability, one of those left behind to perish . In a strange twist of fate , Rafty came across men rescued by the submarine in Penang and included drawings of them in his report which brought welcome news to anxious relatives . One thankful ex–POW wrote a message across a sketch of himself : The best Christmas my mother ever had . While in Singapore Rafty stayed at Raffles Hotel , witnessed the surrender of the Japanese and sketched Lord Louis Mountbatten and many emaciated POWs .
Rafty has vivid memories of the fierce fighting that took place in the Dutch East Indies which saw the rise of President Soekarno as leader of the Indonesian republic. Sent to cover the Indonesian war of liberation he was in a plane with Soekarno , a Dutch captain posing as an Australian soldier , and some commandoes. The plane was shot at as it came in to land and bullet holes were found in the fuselage . When Soekarno bounded from the plane to calm the large , armed , flag- waving crowd , there was a mighty roar : Merdeka ! Merdeka! - Freedom !
Fortunately , Soekarno had taken a liking to Rafty because of his rapid artistic skill . He ordered Rafty to get into a truck with him and they drove through three armed checkpoints . When Rafty inquired about the army captain who had been on the plane , he was informed he had been shot because he was a Dutch spy. Soekarno took Rafty to a village and introduced him to a self taught artist, Affandi. Affandi gave him six paintings and Tony responded by handing over a bag of Japanese Dutch guilders which he had “souvenired. ” Affandi became Indonesia’s leading national artist . A Rafty pen and ink drawing of Affandi is now in the National Library of Australia , Canberra . Other wartime sketches are in the Imperial War Museum , London.
Rafty found himself in the thick of fighting when British brigadier, A. W. Mallaby , attempting to negotiate a ceasefire between the British and Indonesians , was shot dead on October 30, 1945 at Surabaya . Seven Australian correspondents were trapped in an hotel by Indonesian rebels and a British war artist shot dead . Rafty informed Soekarno of the situation and he ordered a ceasefire. Rafty then negotiated the release of two correspondents to break the news that Mallaby had been killed. The British navy steamed in from Singapore and bombarded the area , killing many people .
Rafty, perched atop a high tower, watched and sketched the action . Later he was informed the warships had been using the tower to line up their attack. After covering the war of independence for five months , Rafty returned to The Sun newspaper.
In 1946 he reached the third round of the Australian amateur golf title at Royal Sydney and was beaten by the state champion , Kep Enderby . Enderby went on to become the Australian Attorney–General, a Minister for the Northern Territory , a judge and , like Fidel Castro, supporter of the international language, Esperanto. Of particular Territory interest is the fact that Enderby also favours euthanasia .
During his reign , President Soekarno amassed a large collection of spectacular paintings, mainly Indonesian, many of them village life scenes. Rafty described the collection as “ remarkable” and said Soekarno “really loved paintings . ” The Chinese government produced a lavish limited edition book from the collection for Soekarno. I had a copy of this magnificent volume when I ran a bookshop in Adelaide and spent many hours gazing at the spectacular plates. Uncertainty surrounds what happened to the art collection following Soekarno’s demise and the bloody upheaval that took place when Suharto took over. It was stated in some quarters that the Chinese had kept the collection .
Rafty became famous for his caricatures of world leaders , celebrities and top athletes . He also did cartoons , a weekly comment and produced comics , one called Muggs the Golfer , another about a boxer . A portrait he did of the poet, author and journalist Dame Mary Gilmore was bought by the Australian government for the National Art Gallery . When Gilmore was a young Sydney schoolteacher she encouraged Jessie Litchfield , grandmother of former NT Chief Minister Marshall Perron.
Many of Rafty’s drawings of the world’s best golfers were used in the 1975 book Tony Rafty’s Golfers A Treasury of Stars in Caricature, by Fairfax sports writer Terry Smith, see graphic at head of this article. It was dedicated to Rafty’s younger brother, Stanley, pictured as a young caddy. One of Tony’s sons , a lawyer, was named after Stanley
Rafty has covered most Olympic Games since 1948. His caricatures of sporting stars have featured in several exhibitions. Many of his drawings appeared in the popular Sporting Life magazine and he knew and mixed with all the top Australian cricketers . A Don Bradman bat, autographed on both sides , is one of his prized possessions. Over the years he went on many car rallies and vehicle test runs throughout Australia, producing numerous caricatures and cartoons .
Rafty has covered most Olympic Games since 1948. His caricatures of sporting stars have featured in several exhibitions. Many of his drawings appeared in the popular Sporting Life magazine and he knew and mixed with all the top Australian cricketers . A Don Bradman bat, autographed on both sides , is one of his prized possessions. Over the years he went on many car rallies and vehicle test runs throughout Australia, producing numerous caricatures and cartoons .
For Pix magazine he provided a detailed route map across Australia for contestants in the London to Sydney car race . Rafty said the audacious rally driver “Gelignite ” Jack Murray, who livened things up by hurling sticks of explosives about , terrified some of the overseas contestants when they arrived in Perth from Bombay by informing them they could be speared by wild Aborigines, attacked by giant kangaroos and perish in the trackless wastes of the outback .
Rafty’s skill at rapid sketching saw him cover court cases for Channel 7. He is a founder member of the Black and White Artists’ Club and a longtime president of the Australian War Correspondents’ Association . For 23 years he was deeply involved in the running of Sydney’s Journalists’ Club , its president for a time , which caused moments of lively debate on the home front . When the former NT News editor Jim Bowditch went to Sydney he was often entertained by Tony Rafty and former war correspondent / poet / journalist Kenneth Slessor at the club. Rafty inquired about Bowditch’s well- being after Cyclone Tracy
Rafty , now in his 90s still enjoys golf and is patron of St Michael’s Golf Club , Sydney . For services to the media, he was awarded the OAM . Another honour bestowed upon him is the Greek Gold Cross of Mount Athos. Rafty has led the Australian war correspondents group at past Anzac Day marches. On a trip to Canberra in recent times he toured the archives and viewed sketches he made when he was an itchy and scratchy soldier in Darwin , and was presented with copies of several. ****Upcoming : Special messages and drawings from Rafty after Cyclone Tracy .
Rafty’s skill at rapid sketching saw him cover court cases for Channel 7. He is a founder member of the Black and White Artists’ Club and a longtime president of the Australian War Correspondents’ Association . For 23 years he was deeply involved in the running of Sydney’s Journalists’ Club , its president for a time , which caused moments of lively debate on the home front . When the former NT News editor Jim Bowditch went to Sydney he was often entertained by Tony Rafty and former war correspondent / poet / journalist Kenneth Slessor at the club. Rafty inquired about Bowditch’s well- being after Cyclone Tracy
Rafty , now in his 90s still enjoys golf and is patron of St Michael’s Golf Club , Sydney . For services to the media, he was awarded the OAM . Another honour bestowed upon him is the Greek Gold Cross of Mount Athos. Rafty has led the Australian war correspondents group at past Anzac Day marches. On a trip to Canberra in recent times he toured the archives and viewed sketches he made when he was an itchy and scratchy soldier in Darwin , and was presented with copies of several. ****Upcoming : Special messages and drawings from Rafty after Cyclone Tracy .
