Vale 2024: saluting those we lost this year

ArtsHub salutes the giants of our sector, who said farewell in 2024. Vale to you all.
Detail of a mortary stature in black and white. Vale 2024.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains references to and names of people who have died.

ArtsHub salutes the lives and careers of the artists, performers and patrons who took their final curtain call in 2024.

The global picture

Among the losses from the visual arts sector globally were American minimalist sculptors Carl Andre and Richard Serra, the legendary painter and sculptor and printmaker Frank Stella, equally legendary American video artist Bill Viola, Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri, German visual artist and film director Rebecca Horn, American film director (and cinematic collaborator of Andy Warhol) Paul Morrissey, American painter, author, mixed media sculptor, performance artist Faith Ringgold, Vietnamese American artist and filmmaker Dinh Q Lê, the iconic German museum director and curator Kasper König and, recently, rising British painter Sarah Cunningham who was just 31 and at the other end of live, German-British painter Frank Auerbach passed in November, among others.

And across the design sector, a great loss was American designer and icon, known for her fashion flare and big glasses, Iris Apfel, Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama, and Italian architect and designer Gaetano Pesce.

From the screen sector globally, the losses included Beverly Hills 90210 star Shannen Doherty, The Shining actress Shelley Duvall, theatrical legend, Harry Potter and Downton Abbey star Dame Maggie Smith, venerated Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, longtime daytime talk show host, Phil Donahue, British actor Ian Gelder, best known for his role in Game of Thrones; American Teri Garr, known for her quirky comedic roles in films like Tootsie, Ken Page, the veteran Broadway actor, and Tony and Olivier Award-winning stage actor, Gavin Creel, among others.

The music scene is always hit hard, and this year it said goodbye to Grammy-winning songwriter and arranger Quincy Jones, Tyka Nelson, a singer-songwriter and sister of Prince, Phil Lesh, the prolific bassist and founding member of The Grateful Dead, Liam Payne, a member of the massively popular boy band One Direction, Kris Kristofferson, the legendary country singer and actor, and Jim Beard, the jazz pianist best known for his work with Steely Dan, as well as other talents.

Also making the headlines in 2024, was the death of British TV host and author of diet books Dr Michael Mosley, controversial football star and former murder suspect O J Simpson, and exercise guru Richard Simmons.

ArtsHub’s own

David Tiley (1950-2024)
David Tiley, former Editor of ArtsHub‘s sister site ScreenHub and a much-loved champion of the Australian screen industry, died after a long battle with ill health.

Tiley was the ScreenHub Editor from 2005 when it was a film and TV website run by John Paxinos and Alex Prior, and later became Content Lead for Film in 2021, with a special interest in policy. He continued to thrive in the Editor role after ScreenHub was acquired by ArtsHub’s parent company Creative Hubs Group in 2012. Tiley was much loved in the office, and across the sector, and had a unique generosity of spirit. He died in April.

Visual arts, crafts and design sector

Statue of a man putting a crown on his head. Vale
Honouring those we lost. Photo: Mike Birdy, Pexels.

Jan Senbergs (1939-2024)
Early in the year (February), the visual art sector bid farewell to Latvian-born, Melbourne-based artist Jan Senbergs, who had a unique visual language and an ever-curious mind. His major survey exhibition, Jan Senbergs: Observation – Imagination, which was presented by The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australian Art in 2016, was a career highlight.

Jane Burns AM (1932-2024)
The sector said goodbye to a founding member of four peak craft and arts organisations, and a tireless advocate for the craft sector – Jane Burns AM – in April. Upon her death, she was described as “a giant of Australian craft – a trailblazer and life-long advocate” by the Australian Design Centre (ADC).

Burns was the Founding Director and long-time CEO of the Crafts Council of Australia, as well as a founding member of the Arts Law Centre, National Association of the Visual Arts (NAVA), the National Arts Industry Training Council (now known as Create Australia), the Australian Academy of Design, Sturt Gallery and Studios, and the Australian Costume and Textile Society. She was much loved.

Dr Gerry King (1945-2024)
The April death of South Australian glass artist and educator Gerry King was unexpected and rocked the close community. King was a respected and much-loved maker and educator, and was involved in all aspects of contemporary Australian glass across his 50-year long career. 

Bruce Armstrong (1957-2024)
Naarm/Melbourne born and based artist Bruce Armstrong was a diverse maker, and yet it was his sculptures – monumental totemic animals and figures – that caught the imagination of the public. Long before sustainability was a buzzword or hashtag, Armstrong embraced an environmentally alert studio practice. Finkelstein Gallery said of Armstrong on socials on his death: “A giant among giants in the Australian art world, Bruce exemplified the quintessential hard yakka bloke and was loved by all who knew him.” He died in April.

Richard Dunn (1944-2024)
Having also battled cancer, Richard Dunn died peacefully in his home in Sydney in April after ongoing treatment. Dunn was an incredibly accomplished artist and teacher. He lived and worked for 10 years in London and Paris 1966-76, and his CV reads like an illustrious roll call of the world’s great institutions and art world gongs. He contributed so much, and leaves an incredible legacy.

Rosemary Laing (1959-2024)
Celebrated Australian photo-based artist Rosemary Laing died in May, with tributes flowing in from both home and abroad. Her practice was always deeply engaged with the topics of her time, relating to culturally and historically resonant locations in Australia.

Tolarno Galleries, which commercially represents Laing, posted at the time, “We are immensely saddened by the passing of Rosemary Laing. One of Australia’s most revered artists, her images are embedded in our psyche.”

lan North AM (1945-2024)
In June Gag Projects (GAG) in Adelaide shared the news that photographer Ian North had died. New Zealand-born, he immigrated to Australia in 1971 to take up the post of Curator of Paintings at the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA). During the next decade he achieved an astonishing amount: curating 32 exhibitions, including major retrospectives of Dorrit Black (1975) and Margaret Preston (1980), as well as negotiating for Donald Judd to create a site-specific outdoor work at AGSA in 1974.

GAG Projects wrote on social media, “He was a gentle man with a wealth of talent and knowledge that he was prepared to share with students and other artists. Respected by so many, he was called on to write references for countless people. Preparing the nomination for his AM was an easy task, lan had achieved so much in his artistic and academic life.”

Destiny Deacon (1957-2024)
KuKu (Far North Queensland) and Erub/Mer (Torres Strait Islands) artist, Dr Destiny Deacon, died in May in Naarm/Melbourne at the age of 67. The well-respected figure in contemporary art once described herself as “just an old-fashioned political artist”. Deacon was closely involved with Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins and later, in the 1990s, she was instrumental in coining the word ‘Blak’ as an empowered phrase for self-identifying First Nations peoples. Her major retrospective, DESTINY, at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia in 2020-21, displayed works from over three decades of her career.

Ms Bostock, First Nations Elder (1936-2024)
Proud Bundjalung Mununjali woman, Elder, artist and founding member of Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative, Euphemia (Phemie) Bostock died in June, aged 88. Brisbane-born, her work embraced many mediums, including textiles, printmaking, design and sculpture. Moving to Sydney, she quickly became involved in advocacy. She was also a founding member of Redfern’s Black Theatre in 1972 and was involved in the foundation of the Aboriginal Arts Board.

Guy Warren AM OAM (1921-2024)
Also dying in June was Guy Warren AM OAM who celebrated his 103 birthday shortly before his death. In an earlier interview with ArtsHub, Warren said: “The most important thing of all – always be curious, to look around the corner and to see what can be done, to look at other ideas and ways to tackle a problem. We need to make the community more art conscious… We need to make art seem more relevant to Australians.” Warren had a career that spanned more than eight decades, and he continued to make up until his death.

Liz Williamson (1949-2024)
In August, the sector was shocked and saddened by the sudden death of a great of the design and craft world. When considering contemporary textile practice in Australia, Sydney-based weaver, Liz Williamson’s name is top of that list. And yet her career had an international impact, both for her own making and her advocacy and passion for textiles and craft passion as a contemporary material for identity.

James Darling AM (1946-2024)
The tragic accidental death of artist, patron and conservationist James Darling AM was felt hard by the South Australian arts community, as news of a quad bike accident spread across the arts and conservation community. Darling was best-known for his continuing series of large-scale installations Malleefowl Nests, and his installation with Lesley Forwood, Living Rocks: A Fragment of the Universe, which represented Australia at the 2019 Venice Biennale, as an official collateral event. Darling was also a photographer and writer, as well as a community activist, salt-land agriculturalist and highly successful cattle farmer. He died in September.

Donna Biles Fernando
A Muruwari and Ngemba woman from Brewarrina, NSW, Donna Biles Fernando was a leading curator and cultural worker, strongly advocating and championing best practice for working with First Nations communities during a career spanning more than 20 years. She curated numerous exhibitions for Newcastle Art Gallery and The Lock-Up. She died in August.  

Ken Reinhard AM (1936 – 2024)
Pioneering Australian Pop artist Ken Reinhard, died in September, aged 88. Living most of his life in Sydney, Reinhard was a celebrated pioneer at the forefront of Australia’s Pop Art movement of the 1960s, bringing Pop to centre stage in 1964 with his Sulman Prize winning satirical work Public private preview, which earned him the epithet of Pop’s ‘first big blessing’ from Daniel Thomas, then critic at the Sunday Telegraph. Reinhard, alongside Sydney Ball, was one of the first Sydney artists to turn their backs on abstract expressionism in favour of the Op-art inspired straight lines and hard edges.

As a compulsive creator Reinhard was unconcerned with following the constraints of tradition or convention. Pioneering the use of new computer technologies and commercial printing techniques. He also had a number of significant public sculpture commissions across his career. Reinhard was also foundation head of the School of Art at Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education, Director of the City of Art Institute in Sydney, and ultimately as Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales – a decade when he stepped away from exhibiting. (Obituary NAP contemporary).

George Davis (1930-2024)
In October, Tasmanian painter George Davis died at the age of 94. Davis studied under Jack Carrington Smith and Dorothy Stoner before being awarded a Tasmanian Travelling Scholarship in 1951 to study at the Royal Academy of Art in London. In 1961 he was part of the legendary exhibition of Australian art at the Whitechapel Gallery London, as well as the 2nd Paris Biennale for Young Painters at Musée d ‘Art Moderne. Surveys of his work were staged at the University of Tasmania in 1980 and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in 1988. In 2009 the State Government honoured him with a Distinguished Tasmanian Artist Award, “for his long career as a painter of portraits, Tasmanian landscapes and wildlife”.

Kim Akerman 1947-2024
Jeremy Eccles’ obituary read: “Kim Akerman Tjapangarti, one of the foremost non-Indigenous interpreters of Kimberley art and artefacts has died in Hobart aged 76. He was only able to achieve this because of an openness that was spotted in 1966 by Nyikina elder, Paddy Roe in Broome, who asked him whether he would be prepared to take on the responsibilities of a law man and the knowledge of the Bukarikara, the spiritual force shaping culture and practice in the west Kimberley.” He was regarded as the foremost ethnographer of north-west Australia and academic on Wandjina Culture.

Ken Reinhard (1936- 2024)
Professor Ken Reinhard, founding Dean of UNSW School of Art & Design (formerly the UNSW faculty of the College of Fine Arts COFA and the Alexander Mackie School of Art, the City Art Institute), died in November. “Under Ken’s more than 20 years of leadership, the fledgling School of Art progressed to include new media studies, art administration, art history and theory, and design, as well as some of the earliest art and design postgraduate and research degrees in Australia. As an artist, his significance grows. In the AGNSW Pop to Popism exhibition (2014/15) three of Ken’s works were represented among the grand international pop masters, including Lichtenstein and Warhol,” said the school in a formal statement.

Ruth Faerber (1922-2024)
Australian printmaker Ruth Faerber died in late November aged 102. By 1968 her prints had been acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of NSW, and she received a scholarship for New York City’s Pratt Center. On her return the Sydney-born creative also became the art critic of the Australian Jewish Times. (The Conversation)

Maggie Tabberer (1937-2024)
TV presenter, an editor and a fashion designer, Maggie Tabberer died in December aged 87. Known fondly as Maggie T, she was the first local model to appear on the cover of the then just-launched Australian Vogue. She won back-to-back Gold Logies in 1970 and 1971 and in 1981 launched a plus-size clothing label, Maggie T, the same year she became fashion editor of the Australian Women’s Weekly, where she stayed for 15 years. (The Guardian)

Peter Pilven (1956-2024)
Local Ballarat ceramic artist Peter (Pete) Pilven died this month aged 68. Pilven began his career as an apprentice at Edinburgh Pottery (1972-2005) in the 1970s, located within the Sovereign Hill precinct and has travelled overseas to work and study before settling back in Ballarat, where he taught for over four decades at Federation University. Pilven experimented with new ideas and processes throughout his career, and have works held in public collections including the Art Gallery of Ballarat, Bendigo Art Gallery and Shepparton Art Museum. (Obituary Art Gallery of Ballarat).

Performing arts

A lit candle against a black backdrop. Vale
Their memory will shine on. Photo: Jarl Schmidt, Unsplash.

Sir Andrew Davis (1944-2024)
Sir Andrew Davis, former Chief Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) from 2013-2019, died in Chicago in April after battling leukaemia. He was 80 years old. Davis, who made his debut with the MSO in 2009, went on to became the Orchestra’s Conductor Laureate between 2020 and 2024, after stepping down as Chief Conductor.

Frank van Straten AM (1936-2024)
The renowned theatre historian, archivist, author and performing arts devotee, Frank Van Straten AM died in April. He was the inaugural archivist at the Performing Arts Museum (now Australian Performing Arts Collection at Arts Centre Melbourne) and later its founding Director. He also served on awards judging panels, on the Board of the National Theatre, Melbourne, and he was a patron of the Cinema and Theatre Historical Society Australia (CATHS) for over 25 years.

Garry Van Egmond (1942-2024)
The Australian music industry titan, who toured the likes of AC/DC, Riverdance and Bette Midler, died due to complications following surgery. The founder of TEG Van Egmond, Van Egmond had more than 50 years’ experience in touring, theatrical event production, merchandising, marketing and promotion. He died in April.

Geraldine Doyle (1948-2024)
Legendary comedian and singer Irish-born Geraldine Doyle died in May, after a long battle with cancer. She was a fixture on Australian television with regular appearances on The Mike Walsh Show, Midday with Ray Martin and the Kerri-Anne Kennerley Show. She won seven MO Awards, including being voted ‘Best Stand-up Comic in Australia’ and was the subject of a 1987 ABC special titled Funny Job For A Woman made for the station’s A Big Country TV series.  She toured extensively in Australia, the US and Canada and headlined for many years aboard the most prestigious cruising ships around the world.

Ray Lawler (1921-2024)
Playwright Ray Lawler was perhaps best known for his landmark play, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. He died in July, aged 103. Lawler was also one of the artists responsible for establishing the first non-commercial repertory theatre in Australia – the Union Repertory Theatre Company, now Melbourne Theatre Company.

Janet Andrewartha (1952-2024)
In July, the Australian screen and stage actor, Janet Andrewartha died, aged 72. Best known for long-running appearances in Australian TV dramas, including Prisoner between 1984 and 1986 and Neighbours from 2009 to 2019, she was also celebrated for her many stage performances.

Sam Clark (1984-2024)
Brisbane actor and producer Sam Clark died in August, aged 40. Clark was diagnosed with glioblastoma in February of 2023. His impressive theatre career included producing and he will be best remembered for his lasting impact on the Brisbane theatre scene from 2006-2013. Clark was a passionate member of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and fought for fair working conditions.

Ollie Olsen (1958-2024)
The endlessly curious musical pioneer Ollie Olsen died in October, aged 66. Described as a pioneering post-punk and electronic musician, DJ, sound designer and producer, Olsen had battled with the rare neurological condition, multiple system atrophy. He was due to be inducted into the Music Victoria Hall of Fame the week he died.

Lex Marinos OAM (1949-2024)
The acclaimed and much-loved Greek-Australian actor, writer, director and advocate Lex Marinos OAM, left the stage in September. Marinos was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1994 for service to the performing arts. He was 75.

Graham Edward Clarke (1953-2024)
The Melbourne based Grandmaster of Bel Canto, Graham Clarke passed away late this year. Over a period of 30 years his work in developing the principles and uses of the human voice was celebrated. Described as a “soft spoken, rather disarming man,” and the “world’s foremost pioneer, coach and researcher into Voice and Singing”, Clarke’s passion for singing touched many. He was 71.

Roz Hervey
In November, Roz Hervey, a mainstay of the Adelaide arts sector and an outstanding dancer, choreographer, director, producer and administrator, took control over her final days. Hervey was diagnosed with the terminal degenerative condition Motor Neurone Disease, and had qualified for South Australia’s voluntary assisted dying (VAD) program. She announced her own death to sector.

Eileen Kramer (1914-2024)
The iconic Australian dancer and choreographer, Eileen Kramer, died in November just weeks after her 110th birthday. Kramer’s frequent collaborator, dance filmmaker and choreographer Sue Healey, paid tribute to her this week, saying: “Eileen Kramer was a legend. She was a true creative spirit… Every day, this woman decided to create something … A true creative artist to the end. She danced right to the end.”

Writing and publishing sector

Vale John Pilger (1940-2024)
Journalist, author and filmmaker John Pilger died in January aged 84. An Australian based in the UK, Pilger was a critic of Australian, US and UK foreign policy. As a journalist, he wrote for London’s Daily Mirror from 1963 to 1986, becoming its chief foreign correspondent, and covering events such as the Vietnam War and the Cambodian genocide after the Pol Pot regime. Pilger wrote and edited a range of books, such as The New Rulers of the World (Verso, 2002), A Secret Country (Vintage, 1992) and Hidden Agendas (Vintage, 1998). He also produced over 50 documentary films, and in 2009 was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize. (Books+Publishing)

Vale Frank Thompson (1933-2024)
Publisher Frank Thompson AO died on 1 January, aged 91. The Australian Publishers Association (APA) writes: “His career spanned over 30 years in publishing, including roles at AIATSIS and Angus & Robertson, and most notably at the University of Queensland Press, where he transformed the academic publisher with a focus on fiction, poetry, and a wish to encourage Indigenous writing. Frank also served as APA president, was a long-time Board member, and was an Australian representative to the International Publishers Association.” He was an Order of Australia in 2012. for distinguished service to the publishing industry and the promotion of modern Australian culture, particularly in the area of literary fiction and through support for emerging authors. (Books+Publishing)

Marion Halligan AM (1940-2024)
Australian writer and novelist Mario Halligan authored twenty-three books, including fiction, short-fiction, and non-fiction. She died in Canberra in February, aged 83. Her novel, Lovers’ Knots (1992) won The Age Book of the Year, The ACT Book of the Year and the inaugural Nita B. Kibble Award. The Golden Dress (1998) was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, and her novels The Point (2003) and Valley of Grace (2009) also won The ACT Book of the Year.

Halligan Served as Chairperson of the Literature Board of the Australia Council (1992-95) and the Australian National Word Festival. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2006 ‘for service to Literature as an author, to the promotion of Australian writers and to support for literary events and professional organisations’. (Wikipedia)

Dr June Factor AM (1936-2024)
Dr June Factor AM was a historian and highly respected folklorist, who was most widely known for her series of schoolyard rhymes, beginning with Far Out, Brussel Sprout! She passed away in April. She was senior lecturer at the Institute of Early Childhood Development in Melbourne before being appointed honorary senior fellow at the University of Melbourne. Her contribution to children’s history in Australia has been significant, and her history of children’s folklore, Captain Cook Chased a Chook (Penguin, 1988), remains the authoritative text on the subject.

Factor was also a co-founder of the Australian Children’s Folklore Collection, inaugural co-editor of the International Journal of Play, president of the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties, and founder of Befriend a Child in Detention. She was recognised on the 2024 Australia Day Honours list for ‘significant service to literature, to history, and to the community’. (Australian Historical Society)

Vale Michael Mosley (1957-2024)
British television personality, medical journalist and author Michael Mosley died in June, aged 67 in a tragic surprise accident while out walking. As an advocate for intermittent fasting and low-carbohydrate diets, Mosley wrote the Fast 800 series of books (S&S/Hachette), which have sold over 3 million copies internationally.

Barbara Mobbs (1943-2024)
British-born, Sydney-based literary agent Barbara Mobbs, passed away in August. She was 81. Books+Publishing described: “She had worked in publishing for 51 years and was admired and respected by publishers and authors alike for her sharp intelligence and wit and absolute commitment to her clients.” She worked for George Rainbird Ltd., Ure Smith, Curtis Brown, and Germaine Greer, before starting her own agency.

A past mentee added: “Her clients included Helen Garner, David Malouf, and the estates of Patrick White and Normal Lindsay. She was well respected in the industry and had a wealth of knowledge about how the publishing industry worked here and overseas. Several years before she retired, she was ranked in the top twenty in the Sydney Morning Herald’s most influential ‘behind the scenes’ people in the arts.”

Jack Hibberd (1940-2024)
Jack Hibberd, the author of Dimboola and one of Australia’s best known and most prolific playwrights, died in September this year. He was 84. Hibberd studied medicine at the University of Melbourne, before becoming a registrar at St Vincent’s Hospital in the mid 1960s. His writing and medical careers overlapped, with him continuing to work as a doctor until 1984. He was an integral part of Melbourne’s theatrical world in the late 1960s and 70s, as a co-founder of the pioneering collective, the Australian Performing Group (APG). The group, which was officially established in 1970, was frequently referred to as The Pram Factory. Hibberd was a member of the APG for a decade and its chairman for two.

Stephen Matthews OAM (1946-2024)
Established in 1996 in Canberra, Ginninderra Press is a proudly independent publisher. In late September, esteemed founder of the independent publisher Ginninderra Press, Stephen Matthews OAM passed away aged 78. He received an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for service to publishing in 2021 and a Centenary Medal for his ‘contribution to the writing community and ongoing support for local authors’ in 2003.

Ginninderra Press owner Debbie Lee writes: “As a bookseller, Stephen was discerning and erudite and as well-read as they come. Perhaps not surprising given his Cambridge University education in the classics, moral science and philosophy.” Ginninderra Press relocated from Canberra to Port Adelaide in 2008, and this year became Melbourne-based. (Books+Publishing)

George Negus AM (1942-2024)
In October, the celebrated Australian journalist, author, television and radio presenter, George Negus died. He specialised in international affairs, and was a pioneer of Australian broadcast journalism, first appearing on the ABC’s This Day Tonight , 60 Minutes and later Foreign Correspondent and Dateline on SBS. He published several books.

Louise Thurtell
Former Allen & Unwin publisher Louise Thurtell, who also worked at HarperCollins, Transworld and Random House, died in September. Thurtell worked in the Australian book publishing industry for more than 30 years, including as a freelance manuscript editor, and taught editing and proofreading for the Master of Publishing degree at Sydney University, before relocating to Canberra to serve as an editor at Hansard.

In 2005, Thurtell was the recipient of the Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship. Her most recent in-house publishing role involved setting up the Arena imprint at Allen & Unwin, where she also created and ran Friday Pitch, the first electronic submission system in the Australian book publishing industry. Thurtell also edited many other authors, including Thomas Keneally, Kitty Flanagan, Célestine Hitiura Vaite and Maryrose Cuskelly. (read Books+Publishing obituary)

Gemma Carey (1989-2024)
In November, Canberra-based writer and academic Gemma Carey died, aged 35. She died suddenly after returning to work from three years off due to “vaccine induced long Covid”. Carey was director of the Centre for Social Impact University of New South Wales, where she undertook primary research in governance and policy implementation. She completed a PhD in social policy and population health from the University of Melbourne and a Masters in Anthropology and Public Health (research) from the University of Adelaide. Allen & Unwin published her memoir No Matter Our Wreckage (2020). They described: “Gemma’s voice was brave and bold and unflinching.” (Nine News)

John Marsden (1950-2024)
In late December, the literary community was devastated by news of the death of one of the giants of OzLit. Marsden had over 40 books to his name, with his works translated into multiple languages, and also winning every major award in Australia for young people’s fiction. He remained best known for his hugely influential novel, Tomorrow, When The War began (1993), the first of a series of young adult novels that was later made into a feature film (2010) and then a TV series (2016). His first book was written back when he started his teaching career, So Much to Tell You (1987). Throughout his life, Marsden balanced his authorial and his academic interests, becoming the founder and principal of two schools (Candlebark and Alice Miller) in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges.

Michael Leunig (1945-2024)
The whimsical and sometimes controversial newspaper cartoonist for Melbourne newspapers The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, Michael Leunig, died on 19 December aged 79. “The pen has run dry, its ink no longer flowing – yet Mr Curly and his ducks will remain etched in our hearts, cherished and eternal,” a post shared to Leunig’s Instagram account read, referencing two of the cartoonist, poet and painter’s most common motifs. Leunig started cartooning in the 1960s, with the first of numerous collections of his work published in 1974. He was often lauded for his anti-war stance and for the gentle, humanistic nature of his work.

In later life, Leunig’s contentious cartoons on subjects such as the marriage equality debate, parenting and vaccinations – especially an image which appeared to compare COVID-19 vaccinations to the Tiananmen Square massacre – were the subject of much debate. During the #MeToo movement in 2019, his sister Mary Leunig, also a cartoonist, accused Michael of sexual exploitation and abuse, in a series of images that are still prominent on her website. Leunig was dismissed by The Age, allegedly as part of a cost-cutting venture, in August this year.

Critics, arts managers and patrons

Image: Kirandeep Singh, Pexels.

Max Carter (1926-2024)
The year started with the sad loss of a great arts philanthropist and a highly respected educator, Max Carter AO. In a formal statement at the time, the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) described him as “one of the state’s most significant arts philanthropists”. Works of art in the AGSA collection, made possible through the generosity of M.J.M. Carter, total more than 1400 and have a collective estimated value of $42 million.

David Hansen (1958-2024)
Canberra-based, Associate Professor David Hansen also died in January after a brief illness. Hansen had held a position at the Centre for Art History and Art Theory (CAHAT), the School of Art & Design at the Australian National University (ANU) from 2014 to 2022, and held a long passion for British art history.

Hansen’s reach in the sector was deep; he had worked as a regional gallery director, a State Museum curator and an art auction house researcher and specialist before settling on education and research. He shared over 30 years’ experience, was widely published and was known for his authoritative voice on colonial art.

Sue Hewitt (1941-2024)
An era passed in February, with the death of the former head of Christie’s Australia, Sue Hewitt, who was also personal assistant to Lady Casey, wife of the former Governor-General Lord Richard Gardiner, and the first woman to run a major arts organisation and auction house in Australia. She was also “the first woman to conduct an auction worldwide for Christie’s, an Australian art specialist, friend to many artists, private adviser, collector of drawings, lover of fine wines and good food,” said Michael Reid OAM in the tribute he wrote for ArtsHub.

Terry Ingram (1942–2024)
In July, the visual arts sector lost one of Australia’s most respected and prolific visual arts writers. “Hugely influential, while paradoxically being personally little known, the death of Terry Ingram arts journalist and author should not pass without acknowledging his profound impact on our knowledge of, and the subsequent growth of, the Australian art market,” wrote Michael Reid OAM.

Rod Fyffe OAM (1949-2024)
Rod Fyffe, long-time Bendigo councillor and Mayor, and a strident supporter and advocate for Bendigo Art Gallery, as well as being a former director of the Gallery’s Board, died in July. He was a keen collector of Australian ceramics, and generously donated hundreds of artworks over nearly three decades to Bendigo Art Gallery, significantly shaping its collection.

Mr Fourmile (-2024)
In September, one of Australia’s revered and deeply respected First Nations leaders, Gudju Gudju Fourmile, died. Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) acknowledged the privilege of having Gudju Gudju’s involvement in the event from its inception in 2009. “Gudju Gudju will be remembered for his passion and commitment to culture, the environment, his people and his beloved Gimuy,” said CIAF.  

Margaret Mary Manion AO FAHA (1935-2024)
Margaret Mary Manion was an Australian art historian and curator recognised internationally for her scholarship on the art of the illuminated manuscript. She died in September. Manion was instrumental in cataloguing Medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts in Australian and New Zealand collections. She was Herald Chair Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne from 1979 to 1995, also serving as Deputy Dean and Acting Dean in the Faculty of Arts, Associate Dean for Research, Pro-Vice-Chancellor from 1985 to 1988, and in 1987, she was the first woman to chair the university’s Academic Board.

Rob Ferguson (1945-2024)
Also in September, former CEO of Bankers Trust Australia (BTA, 1985 to 1999), then its chairman to 2001, Robert Alexander ‘Rob’ Ferguson died after a long battle with the lung disease fibrosis. While one of the most influential figures in Australia’s capital markets history, his interests were eclectic and took him to the racetracks, to breeding horses, as well as supporting the arts. He was Chair, then Deputy Chair, The Sydney Institute, and a Director at The Sydney Writers’ Festival, as well as advocating for and significantly supporting the Southern Highlands Regional Gallery, Ngununggula.

Leon Parossien (1937-2024)
“Leon Parossien’s great talent was that he was able to both have a vision for the ‘big picture’ – the way he wanted the world to be – and to understand the ways and means to get there,” writes Joanna Mendelssohn. He was the first director of the Visual Arts Board of the fledgling Australia Council, directed the 1984 Biennale of Sydney, and in 1984, with his partner Bernice Murphy, were appointed to the share curatoral role of the Power Collection at the University of Sydney. In 1989, he was announced inaugural director of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina