A small photograph of her pet Beagle , Ponsonby , above , mentioned previously in this blog , shows him sitting on a lounge , possibly three or more decades ago , in Coronation Drive , Toowong, Brisbane , books, some pieces of pottery and wall hangings in the background .
By Peter Simon
While helping Margaret cull and sort her impressive book collection last year , I mentioned that during the mad Poseidon share boom period of l969-l970 in Australia I had covered the so called luxury beat for the Sun Herald, the nation's then largest selling Sunday paper .
This involved going to auctions , mixing with the jubilant nouveau rich in the public gallery at the Sydney Stock Exchange , contacting leading jewellers such as Prouds, Hardy Brothers, Angus and Coote -in Margaret's numerous reference books was By Appointment, the history of Hardy Brothers , 1780-1980, by Gail Franzmann, the company commissioned to make a gold trowel and mallet presented to King George V in 1913 , the l934 Centenary Air Race Trophy , a tea tree spray brooch for Princess Alexandra and started on its first Melbourne Cup in 1980.The high flying former finance journalist Christopher Skase took over the company in 1979 through Qintex Limited , then departed for Spain faster than Phar Lap when the crash came .
On my rounds I had been shown large diamonds, picture opals , sapphires in various colours , rarities and oddities held in strongrooms, sworn to secrecy by a jewellery firm making life sized copies of Australian animals in gold and gemstones for a Sultan .
This involved going to auctions , mixing with the jubilant nouveau rich in the public gallery at the Sydney Stock Exchange , contacting leading jewellers such as Prouds, Hardy Brothers, Angus and Coote -in Margaret's numerous reference books was By Appointment, the history of Hardy Brothers , 1780-1980, by Gail Franzmann, the company commissioned to make a gold trowel and mallet presented to King George V in 1913 , the l934 Centenary Air Race Trophy , a tea tree spray brooch for Princess Alexandra and started on its first Melbourne Cup in 1980.The high flying former finance journalist Christopher Skase took over the company in 1979 through Qintex Limited , then departed for Spain faster than Phar Lap when the crash came .
On my rounds I had been shown large diamonds, picture opals , sapphires in various colours , rarities and oddities held in strongrooms, sworn to secrecy by a jewellery firm making life sized copies of Australian animals in gold and gemstones for a Sultan .
Even got an invite from Junie Morosi to a Christmas party . Her later involvement with Dr Jim Cairns helped bring down the Whitlam Government; recently she came out and attacked the media for their treatment of Barnaby Joyce and his staff member.
I told Margaret of an episode that took place when I attended the first auction conducted in Sydney by the international firm Christie's . An Australian painting owned by James Fairfax, of the Fairfax media family, had been knocked down for about 20 grand . However , a member of the well heeled and attired crowd , complained to the auctioneer that he still had his hand up, wanting to bid. The auction resumed , and the painting went for several thousands more .
Margaret responded by giving me catalogues for auctions and invitations to various galleries and exhibitions. On quick perusal some time later , a l998 catalogue for a Sydney auction of 20th century art and design was found to contain handwritten notes by Margaret , corrections to the text , plus penned in actual sale prices , for the pottery offerings , which included a Madoura pottery vase designed by Pablo Picasso , expected to fetch up to $9000. There had also been a large number of paintings by Northern Territory Aboriginal artists in the auction.
At the time , I made a mental note to ask her about this auction and others she may have attended. Because of her deteriorating health, the opportunity to pursue this subject at length , like so many of her brief anecdotes, unfortunately, did not arise .
Just this week , again glancing through that same 1998 catalogue , with several seemingly unconnected inserts , you could have knocked me over with a proverbial feather . There , in a fullplate illustration , above, was one of the pieces of pottery behind Margaret's Beagle : a Brett Whitely cobalt blue rendition of Madam Lash on a glazed white Derek Smith stoneware vase !!!! Ex the Kim Bonython Collection, it was estimated to sell for $9000-$12,000.
It is a good thing that the Beagle , which exchanged Christmas cards with the female Dachshund owned by the couple who ran the Johstone Gallery in Brisbane , mentioned previously in this blog covering another interesting part of Margaret's life, did not get excited while having his photo taken and wag his tail , or else Madam Lash could have been whipped into a pile of worthless shards.
A folded photocopy of a Sydney Morning Herald article by its arts editor , Peter Cochrane , dated October 15, 1998 , inserted in the catalogue, then was found to have relevance . Headed WELCOME TO THE FROCKY HORROR SHOW : JUST A LITTLE SOMETHING I WHIPPED UP , it included a bondage outfit designed by Sydney artist, fashion designer and dominatrix , Gretel Pinniger , for her alter ego, Madam Lash , on the right . Renowned for throwing lavish parties at Palm Beach , she it was who inspired Brett Whiteley's stoneware vase, which in recent times has rocketed in value .
The report covered a National Gallery of Australia exhibition ,Wall to Wall, which included a pair of Mary Quant vinyl red shoes , a hat from the London production of My Fair Lady.
