INFLUENTIAL AUSTRALASIAN JOURNALIST

 

The striking  cover  of   the  l909  futuristic  novel by journalist , author,  and poet  Frank Morton  (1869-1923), who  greatly influenced reporting  and  literature  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand. 

Indeed, the founder and  editor of the  influential Australian Sydney  journal The Bulletin, J. F. Archibald, said the prolific writer  was one of three  journalists  who  lifted  journalism  to  the  plane  of   literature. 

The Australian Dictionary of  Biography  says he was educated at a private school at Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, and  migrated to Sydney with his family when he was  16.

Starting work as  an engineering apprentice,  in  1889  he sailed aboard the  Conqueror, leaving the vessel at  Hong  Kong.

Making his way to Singapore, Morton taught at a Methodist mission school and later that year joined the staff of the Straits Times, discovering his aptitude as a journalist 'in a flash'. 

On 5 August 1891 he married Louise Susan Chicherley Holloway, born in Calcutta; they moved to India where he worked on several Calcutta newspapers and became sub-editor of the Englishman. As special correspondent he accompanied the theosophist Annie Besant on her Indian tour, the wanderings of the opium commission and Sir Mortimer Durand's mission to Afghanistan.

In 1894 Morton returned to Australia and was in Sydney in 1895-96, when he began contributing to The Bulletin, before moving to Queensland to work on the Brisbane Courier. About 1898 he went to Hobart where he free-lanced and worked for the Mercury.

In 1905 he joined the Otago Daily Times, Dunedin, New Zealand, but left abruptly about 1908 and moved to Wellington. He became editor of a sixty-page monthly magazine, the Triad, and wrote most of it, under such pseudonyms as 'M', 'F. T. Monk-Orran', 'Epistemon', 'Selwyn Rider', and 'Booklander'.

The Triad, a magazine first edited by another  influential  writer, Charles Baeyertz, was largely devoted to reviews of literature, live performances and visual art. Its reviewers, in particular Frank Morton and Baeyertz himself, were notorious for not pulling any punches when reviewing what they considered to be sub-standard works. The Triad was published in New Zealand from 1893 until 1914, when it moved to Australia.

In Wellington Morton published Laughter and Tears: Verses of a Journalist (1908) and wrote two novels, The Angel of the Earthquake (Melbourne, 1909) and The Yacht of Dreams (London, 1911).

(Journalism. Morton. Literature.)

MUDFLAT PICKINGS

Birds in early morning search for food, Cairns. Not clear if recent  wildlife report about the influence of light pollution on birds means many experience longer days out and about-more time to sing and  dig for their supper-  and applies to them in the bright lights of Queensland  tourist spots.

 (Cairns. Birdlife. Abra.)

RARE PALM TREE ART OFFER

An extraordinarily beautiful and lavish Australian artists book devoted to the palm tree, inspired by the Palmetum of Townsville, one of the three botanical gardens of the city and the most significant garden in the world dedicated to the palm tree, with numerous rare and endangered species,is listed for sale at $15,000 in the wide ranging  August acquisitions of Douglas Stewart Fine books , Melbourne . 

The palm was" depicted  by" a team-Juli Haas, Ray Crooke, Jan Senbergs, Anneke Silver, Cheryl Wildon, Danny Moynihan, Margaret Wilson, Normana Wight, Jorg Schmeisser, David Paulson, Ron McBurnie, Tate Adams, Anne Lord. 

With text by Jenny Zimmer. Introduction by John L. Dowe, Palm Biologist, James Cook University. Townsville : Lyrebird Press, 2002. Folio (470 x 395 mm), screen printed papered boards, cloth spine, pp. [52], with original etchings, silk screens, dry points, linocuts and wood engravings by the artists, printed on BFK rag paper, housed in the publisher’s folding clamshell box with screenprint designs of palms. 

Printed in an edition of 40 copies of which copies 26 to 40 are reserved for the artists and collaborators. Signed by all thirteen artists. This is copy number 26, with a presentation inscription on the front free endpaper For Jenny from Tate, Dec 2002.

"Of all of the books we made at Lyre Bird Press in Townsville, Palmetum was the most ambitious and challenging. It was ambitious in that we brought acclaimed artists from different parts of the country to Townsville with the hope that they could share their unique vision of the Palmetum (a botanic garden specifically devoted to palms of the world) to print form. The book was costly because of its large size and the expense of editioning the plates."

Designed by Tate Adams, produced with Ron McBurnie at the workshop of the Lyre Bird Press at James Cook University, Townsville. Text printed from relief plates, typography by Charles Teuma. Bound in Brisbane by Friedhelm Pohlmann. The project was started in 1995 and finished and published in 2002.

The Douglas Stewart list consists of more than 250 books, book catalogues , photos and  Australian artists , many from  the eminent  curator  and art historian , Felicity St. John Moore(1933-2025) . It includes  early Australian  women artists  , Aboriginal art  and  much  much  more. 

(Rare. Art. Books.) 

RECORD CAR MARATHON

A century ago, two tall,  adventurous men  set out from Perth , Western Australia, in a  a tiny 5hp ,second- hand   Citroen  , named  Bubsie, bound   for  far away Darwin on  what  developed  into  the  first   Australia  circumnavigation  drive . They  were  Seventh Day  Adventist missionary ,  Nevill  Westwood,22, and a  friend ,  Greg Davies. 

Packed into the car  with  swags ,extra fuel  tanks, water and oil, spare tyres  was  religious  literature for  sale  to  stations  in WA  and the   Northern Territory . It  was an epic  bush  bashing   trip in which Aborigines  actually  helped  carry  Bubsie across  the  Fitzroy River. 

 

Westwood  had  blazed  the  run  to  Darwin in 1924 on  an  AJS motorcycle.

In 1908 Murray Aunger and Harry Dutton  drove  a Talbot between Adelaide and  Darwin.

Once Bubsie  made  Darwin  they  continued on into  Queensland , passing the burnt wreckage of a car abandoned by adventurer Francis  Birtles on an earlier  trip  to  the Northern Territory. 

Driving through to  Mount Isa   they experienced formed roads to  Brisbane and Sydney.  Davies left the car at  Albury  and went back to Perth so that he could  resume  his  study  as a  nurse. 

At that time  the above  vehicle , fitted out for a long outback trip, was attracting  attention .

Westwood continued on through  Melbourne and  Adelaide , arriving back in Perth on  December  30,  l925  and  resumed  church  business. 

The Citroen ended up in the National Motor Museum , Birdwood, South Australial, and  a   restored similar vehicle re-enacted the  circumnavigation this  year -mostly on  the  back  of  a  truck .  

(Circumnavigation. Australia. Darwin.)

WATERFRONT PANORAMA

Cairns Esplanade. Abra  photos. 

Cairns. Abra photo.

LAUGH IN WITH PETER BURLEIGH

 Talented  columnist, illustrator and author  Peter Burleigh  is  shown above  on Magnetic Island coming  up  for oxygen  after  reflecting   on  his  fabulous contributions  to the  wild , short-lived    l969   Australian   national   magazine , Broadside,  a   bound  in  copy  from  the  Little Darwin collection    before  him .

Edited by Pete Steedman ,who had edited two Melbourne university student newspapers, Lot's Wife and Farrago, Broadside, said to have been produced in  an office the size of a broom cupboard, opposed  the  Vietnam War and  was   published  by  the  Melbourne  Age.

The very first issue introduced Fabula  - the newest, wildest , most offbeat comic strip yet- by Gerald Carr,  about the adventures  of  a    curvey  , whip- cracking  private secretary to the   Prime  Minister  in  a  great Southland continent  , wink , wink,nudge, nudge . 

Seemed   to  be  Australia , Canberra in particular, although   Fabula   threatened  the  American  president  with a   whipping.  Come back Fabula  , you  are  needed  in  the   White House right  now . 

From Steeedman's  personal   file   came another   version of  Fabula, below, inspired by  Barbarella  in  Jean Claude Forest's  French  comics , Jane Fonda playing  her  in a  film  version,  which  upset  the  Catholic  Church.

Peter  Burleigh's contributions  to Broadside  were many, some full page, covered a  wide range of topics    from Scientology  to  politics,  Disney characters , censorship   and   an hilarious  send up  of warnings about the  danger of  fluoride in drinking water 

The latter featured a  before and  after   series  of  a  muscular bloke   wth rotten  teeth, apparently popular with women , who killed   cattle  at the abbatoirs by smiling at them. After  fluoride  applications,  he becomes a  weedy guy,  knee deep in toothpaste, with   dazzling white teeth, who could kiss  anything  at  the  meatworks.   

It is  not known if the  fluoride user inspired  graffiti  in which  Basil Sweetlips  is mentioned. 

An example of Burleigh's highly detailed work , below, showed a man asleep in the Darwin Early Warning Station during an invasion.

                                                        

      

Another cartoon , below, covered Burleigh's departure   for  England , with a letter of introduction  from the Victorian  hanging Premier, Sir Henry Bolte . Burleigh   was  intent on telling  the Poms the  truth about  Oz  , with a  special  gift  pack for Prince  Charles.  

Broadside   also  ran   cartoons from two  well known  Americans , Jules Ralph  Feiffer, described as the  widest  read satirist in the country , and   ascerbic  Ron Cobb .

   

Australia's own Michael Leunig provided several brilliant double page spreads .There were regular columns from both sides of politics .

The last  issue of  Broadside, signed  by  Pete Steedman,  is run below. It seems some   of the political content  and a  drawing-not one of Burleigh's- upset the publishers   and  some members of the Melbourne  Club, and it got the chop.  Steedman headed to London and met up with Burleigh .one of their misadventures an overland trip to Morocco , mentiond recently in  this blog. 

(Broadside. Burleigh. Cartoonists.)

UNIQUE TROVE AT JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY

Australian  Art  Researcher's  Eclectic  Collection, rerun.

The late Margaret Vine , of Magnetic  Island , shown in a magazine article  chatting with Australian artist  Sir Russell Drysdale , at a  Brisbane   exhibition , passed   on  to   Special Collections   at  James Cook University , Townsville , part of   her   extensive   art  library. Her interests  included  architecture , clothing ,  jewellery ,  pottery , Persian carpets ,   editing ,  wildlife , conservation .

By Peter Simon

Her  donation to  the university   included   three   boxes   of  unique  art  ephemera  containing  art catalogues of Australian  art  galleries , invitations   to exhibitions , newsletters , single  sheet  illustrations .   Come along  for a  quick, offbeat   tour  of  the  fascinating  contents. 

An exhibition  catalogue  which particularly  grabbed my attention was  one  by Marie McMahon, inspired by the birds  and vegetation in the region of the  Rum Jungle uranium  mine in the Northern Territory . 

It was  shown at  the  Australian  Girls Own Gallery , Canberra , in  l994.  The gallery , known as  aGOG , was owned and operated  by former National Gallery of Australia curator  Helen Maxwell  to combat  bias against women  artists ; at times it handled work of  male artists .   

It tells how Prime Minister Robert Menzies  in opening the  uranium mine  in 1954   said it brought  Australia into the "Atomic Age".  Upon its closure  it left  30 kilometres of  the  East Finniss River  dead ,  pollutants  said to be discharged for  300  years. McMahon's   early life  was on  defence  bases in Australia , including  Darwin ,with time in the Philippines.  Her artwork involved social, political  and environmental themes. She   lived  at   Batchelor , the  town constructed  to  serve   Rum   Jungle.  Conflict in Indochina and  Cambodia  reflected  in   later  works . 

Flip open  a card and  there is a dramatic  invite to an exhibition which  modern  day   farmers, under great economic  pressures ,  drought , massive flooding in  parts ,  would  appreciate . 

It is contained in tree folders specifically covering exhibitions by the legendary art dealer and gallery proprietor Ray Hughes of Brisbane and Sydney with whom she had a close association ,along with other prominent people in the art world . 

 

Ray Hughes , above , enjoying life ; below, an invitation to his gallery in the form of playing card  for an exhibition by Alan Bourne in  l977. Hughes started his  first gallery in  Brisbane in 1969  at the age of  21 ,  with just   $500 , later opened  another gallery in  Sydney , promoted an early interest in Papua New Guinea , New Zealand and contemporary Chinese art ( which included visiting China) ,    died  age  72.     Other  invites of his  took  the shape of specially designed, illustrated   postcards, a  packet of  tobacco  for sculptor , artist and print makere Tony Coleing , renowned for satirical and cutting  edge works.  

 

WOMBATS  AND   POLITICIANS 

There was  a Clifton Pugh  wombat  hanging on the  wall of  Ms. Vine's  island home .  In  the boxes  of  ephemera   at   James  Cook University  is  the following   Melbourne  University  Gallery  catalogue  for   Pugh's portraits  with a stern looking  depiction  of   himself  on  the  cover .

Involved in conservation  issues    from  the l950s,  Pugh  wrote  Death of a  Wombat in 1972  ; aligned himself  with the Australian Labor Party , influenced  the Whitlam Government's support for the arts  and  painted   politicians ,   Gough Whitlam ,Tom Uren , Clyde Cameron , Don Dunstan  , all of the ALP,  and  Country Party   leader , John " Blackjack" McEwen . 

SAD  AND  SAVAGE  DARWIN   LEAVES

Cover  for exhibition  by  Wendy Stavrianos  which compared the vegetation of  Darwin and   New South Wales. The artist said this exhibition was like two

earlier exhibitions she held in  Melbourne and set out to show a side of the Darwin environment  in  which she lived for three years  

This sad and savage land seemed at times to be bleached out  to white fragments ; giant leaves dried of all sap through a long dry season were reduced to wavering wafer like shapes that twisted up and lay forgotten in the wide landscape. 

The dry season seemed like an endless  peeling off of skins that curled and split and fell to the barren earth.

Then the coming of the Wet brought bougeoning growth , a fresh  filling out of luxuriant flesh. and so the cycle repeated itself . Always against the  immense  flat  background of land, sea and beach.  Sydney Harbour Bridge and  Circular  Quay  below. 

FOOTNOTE: Under her married name, Margaret Willis, she  assisted Gordon Greenwood  and Charles Grimshaw in  their  jointly edited  l977 Documents on Australian International Affairs,  1901 -1918, Nelson , 779pp, illustrated , endpaper maps.  She probably assisted in the selection  of  cartoons  and other  artwork  related  to  that  period  which  appear  in  the  book .    

(Vine. Art. University.)