Artist Profile: Warwick Fuller

One of the best known contemporary landscape painters of the Capertee Valley is the Little Hartley-based artist Warwick Fuller. Warwick has been painting for over 35 years and has had over 60 solo exhibitions. Like the pioneer Capertee Valley painter Robert Johnson (1890-1964) before him, Warwick is a Fellow of the Royal Art Society of New South Wales (FRAS). Below, Warwick writes of his long standing affinity with the landscape of the area and touches on the technical difficulties of being a plein air painter.

Warwick Fuller in his studio with Afternoon sun, Glen Davies

The Capertee Valley was one of the first truly awe inspiring locations in which I painted. That was back in 1976, two years before I started painting full time. I was vaguely mindful of the history of great artists who had made their way into the ramparted protection of this magnificent triassic basin. Robert Johnson, Reg Campbell, Doug Sealy to name a few.


Though I try to not wear out my enthusiasm for this iconic geological marvel, I am drawn back at least once most years. Early on Allan Fizzell and I would camp on the Dunville loop or down near Glen Davis, painting for three or four days at a time. On one trip, when it was raining, I went to Mr Wilson's property 'Tambo' to introduce myself and ask if I may see his Robert Johnson painting. As I pulled up at his gate a flash of late afternoon sunlight broke through. I was out of the van and painting in a flash. A day or two after, I did get to meet Mr Wilson and see that 'Johnson'.

Another early highlight for me was when painting with Robert Simpson in the Valley. Bob painted a little study of morning light that absolutely knocked me out. Along with other early influences, I think that painting unconsciously started my career long struggle to capture the light. I've painted standing in the river during heat waves, I've perched precariously on sandstone cliffs and on car roofs, on steep slopes, in front of mobs of herded cows. I've painted in frosts where the brushes fell out of my hands because of frozen fingers. Rocks have been required to hold my easel down in wind. Flies have tried to carry me away or rearrange my paintings. But it is the enduring joy of being witness to the marvellous light it the valley. The blazing direct summer light on the bluffs, the gentle filtered winter light on pastures and cattle, the long strafing shadows across the valley floor, the reflected glow as the sun dips below the rim.

Change in the Valley (2010), oil by Warwick Fuller

Many artists travel to 'Capertee' these days and their efforts and interpretations are introducing the wider public to this amazing jewel of the Australian landscape. I've seen many changes over the last thirty seven years but the grand valley remains largely unchanged and undiminished. If nurtured by those who care, and we all remain vigilant, our grandchildren will enjoy its beauty as did our grandparents. Other as yet unborn great artists will surely find inspiration here and masterpieces will be created.

For more information about the artist please refer to Warwick Fuller's website: http://www.warwickfuller.com/

Jack Dawes's cat

The Capertee district has attracted some eccentric types over the years. One such individual was Jack Dawes who lived in the area during the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Jack was a man of very humble means who lived in a water tank in Capertee. His impecunious lifestyle soon attracted the attention of the local police who charged him under the (now repealed) NSW Vagrancy Act. We will leave a newspaper report in the Goulburn Evening Post, of Monday 11th June 1951, to explain the odd details of the case.

The Hermit, Capertee Valley (1988), oil by Sali Herman
image courtasy AASD website

Vagrant Wore Live "Fur" To Keep Warm

A 58-year-old man charged with vagrancy had to be stripped of a large black tom-cat which he claimed he wore to keep him warm when he appeared in Capertee Court of Petty Sessions. The man, Jack Dawes, of Capertee (near Lithgow) was sentenced to three months hard labour.

When Dawes was taken into court, police noticed a large bulge inside his old shirt. Asked what it was, Dawes put his hand into his shirt and pulled out the head of a large tom-cat. He objected when police ordered him to remove the cat in court. He stated that he wore the cat there to keep him warm. He had had the animal for 15 years. The cat was taken from him. After Dawes had been sentenced, Mr. K. Dash, S.M., commented: "I think we'll send the cat with him too. I'm sure we can find a warrant card for it somewhere."

Dawes pleaded not guilty to a charge of having insufficient support. When asked in court how he lived, he commented: "Ben Chifley keeps me!" Apparently Mr. Chifley's patronage was not enough to convince Mr. Dash. He convicted Dawes who was later taken to Lithgow police station. He was then transferred to Bathurst.

Police stated that he lived in a tank in the Capertee district. He had the tank sealed and had to crawl into it through a small hole. Only food stuff which he had with him was cat's meat. He was anxious to take the cat with him.

Some months ago, Det. W. J. Heron, of the Lithgow Police visited the "home" of the accused. He was surprised when Dawes ran-out and sprayed him with eau-de-cologne, explaining that he always kept the perfume on hand for friends.

A big thank you to J. O'Shea, a distant relative of Jack Dawes, for sharing this quirky tale. She believes that her relative died in 1960. In the absence of a photo of Mr Dawes we have reproduced a work by the famous Swiss-born Australian artist Sali Herman (1898-1993), titled 'The Hermit, Capertee Valley'.

An aerial mystery

In Bruce Jefferys' local history, The Story of Capertee,  a shot of an early aeroplane flying over a hilly bush landscape was reproduced. The image was titled 'Wolgan Valley' and Jeffreys' credits the photo to local photographer Henry (Harry) Mow who was active in the Capertee area during the early years of the last century. On first inspection Mow's photo looks like a tricked-up image, and this was certainly the view of Jefferys. Fake montages of more than one image to create a new composite picture is a common trick used throughout the history of photography. While this undated image is most likely a montage the photo, possibly, refers to early local contact with aeroplanes in the area.

Henry Mow photo of an aeroplane over the Wolgan Valley

In early March 1926, the Windsor and Richmond Gazette reported on a aerial survey of the Capertee district by the Richmond-based aviator Captain Percival that had taken place a week earlier in late February.  According to the report Percival, along with a surveyor and a photographer, left Mascot at 9.30 am in an Avro aeroplane to undertake a preliminary photographic survey of about 50 square miles of 'very rough country several miles beyond Capertee'. According to the report, the survey would reveal the contours of the area to help guide 'the men who, later on, will go over the ground with axe and "jigger" '.

Captain Percival's flight across the mountains, against a stiff westerly wind, took two and a half hours while the return journey took less than an hour. The party returned to Mascot aerodrome at 5pm. There is a suggestion in the newspaper report that the plane may have landed near Capertee during its mission.

A 1935 photo of Edgar Percival
courtesy Wikipedia

The pilot mentioned in the report was the Australian air pioneer Edgar Wikner Percival (1898-1984). Percival first took up flying during the Great War when he joined the British Royal Flying Corp. After the war he returned to Australia with three surplus aircraft, two Avro 504's and a de Havilland DH 6  to do stunt flying, film work and charter flying. During the 1920s he was known to be doing survey work in Australia, and it was during this part of his career that he surveyed the Capertee district.

While the planes being used by Edgar Percival in the early 1920s were bi-planes they were far more modern in design than the aircraft pictured in Mow's Wolgan Valley photo. The aeroplane pictured in his image seems to be an early aeroplane, most likely designed before the Great War. An Internet search soon discovered an image of a biplane flown by Orville and Wilbur Wright which seems very similar to the aircraft shown in Mow's photo. Being such a famous aircraft it is most likely the source of the tricked up image by Mow.

A biplane flown by Orville & Wilbur Wright

By coincidence Captain Percival's aerial survey of the Capertee district in late February took place just a week after Mow died. Because of this, Mow's image cannot have depicted Percival's survey plane of 1924. So either the image commemorates an earlier flight in the area,  or may simply be an experiment in trick photography.

Please let us know if you can identify the aeroplane seen flying in Henry Mow's photograph or can suggest where Percival may have landed in the Capertee area during his 1924 mission.

Link to Wikipedia entry on Edgar W Percival http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Percival

In later posts we will look at Harry Mow's career and also highlight the work of other photographers of the district.