Ian FairweatherPrint Page 
The park and memorial commemorate artist Ian Fairweather (29 September 1891 – 20 May 1974). The stone memorial marks the site of his hut.
Following schooling in Britain and Switzerland, Fairweather served as a second lieutenant during World War One. He was captured and interned in a German Prisoner of War camp where he passed the time learning to draw. Returning to the Hague after the armistice in 1918, he took up a four-year course of study at the Slade School in London under Henry Tonks, while spending his evenings learning Japanese and Chinese at the School of Oriental Studies at the University of London.
During the 1930s and 40s he lived a nomadic existence, travelling extensively in Canada, China, Indonesia and Australia. In 1934 he exhibited at Cynthia Reed’s gallery in Melbourne, before spending two years in China living in poverty, painting and undertaking lessons in calligraphy and Mandarin. His impoverished condition meant he had to improvise with painting materials, leading him to experiment with Chinese chalks.
By 1938 Fairweather returned to Australia and was living among the local Aboriginal community near Cairns, where he turned from oil paintings to using gouache, often painting on fragile surfaces.
During World War Two, Fairweather was stationed in India at an Italian Prisoner of War camp; however, he continued to exhibit works in London where he became widely recognized, with his paintings acquired by the Tate Gallery. From 1949 he also regularly exhibited at Macquarie Galleries in Sydney, where his work impacted local artists. A turning point in Fairweather’s life and work occurred in 1952 when he undertook a sixteen-day journey by raft from Darwin to Roti, Indonesia, during which he nearly perished. Held by Indonesian authorities for three months, he was deported to Singapore and then to England, where he dug ditches to raise money to return to Australia, settling on Bribie Island off the coast of Queensland.
On Bribie Island, Fairweather built a thatched hut and, living as a hermit, continued to paint until his death in 1974, producing some of the most significant works of his career. Fairweather’s work was included in the exhibition Australian Painting Today at the Tate Gallery and was selected to represent Australia at the Bienale de São Paulo in 1963.
Location
| Address: | 2 Hunter Street, Ian Fairweather Park, Bongaree, 4507 |
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| State: | QLD |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -27.082554 Long: 153.169956 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Park |
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| Monument Theme: | People |
| Sub-Theme: | Arts |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Sunday 4th November, 1979 |
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Plaque :
This memorial is in honour of internationally renown artist Ian Fairweather who lived and painted on this site from 1953 until his death in 1974
Erected by the people of Bribie Island
Plaque :
Ian Fairweather
After a lifetime of travel and adventure, in 1953 at the age of 62, this world famous artist came to live in isolation in a grass hut inland from here. He created some of his finest paintings in this hut over the next 21 years, until his death in 1974.
