Few other artists have captured Australia’s imagination quite like Ian Fairweather.
This is the second part of a double episode on this 20th century artist. In the last episode I interviewed Claire Roberts, co -editor of the book ‘Ian Fairweather A Life in Letters’ and we talked about the events of Fairweather’s life from his early childhood.
In this episode I talk with Ann Thomson, one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists who I have previously interviewed on this podcast. Ann met Fairweather on several occasions with her then husband, photographer Robert Walker. They visited him on Queensland’s Bribie Island where he lived for the last 20 years of his life before he died in 1974.
He’s considered one of Australia’s most important artists. Although he was often described as an outsider or a recluse – he lived on Bribie Island in self-made huts apart from the rest of the community – he was actually quite sociable through his letters and welcomed friends who came to visit.
He famously sailed off into the open sea from Darwin on a raft he built himself, heading for Portuguese Timor over 600km away. It would be 16 days before he would reach land after his raft sailed off course and he had almost lost his life. The RAAF were called in and an obituary appeared in the newspaper. It became an international story. What he told Ann Thomson when she asked about the ordeal is priceless.
The memories of Ann Thomson are interesting, insightful and humorous and gave me a better idea of the man who was Ian Fairweather.
To hear the podcast click on ‘play’ beneath the above photo.
Click here to hear my interview with Claire Roberts.
Click here to purchase the book ‘Ian Fairweather A Life in Letters’
Photograph of Ann Thomson by Greg Weight (cropped)
Selected works
Co-edited by Claire Roberts and John Thompson
Published by Text Publishing
