Sub-fonds 2: Donald Friend papers, 1933-1992

MLMSS 10116 /7-8
MLMSS 10116/9X

sub-fonds

1933-1992

9611812

0.32 metres of textual material (3 boxes)

Donald Friend (1915-1989), artist and writer was born in Sydney. He studied with Sydney Long and Dattilo Rubbo in the early 1930s and then in London at the Westminster School of Art. On his return to Sydney in 1940 he mixed with artists Russell Drysdale and William Dobell, and exhibited at the Macquarie Galleries and with the Society of Artists. In 1942 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force as a gunner. He was commissioned in 1945 as a lieutenant and appointed a war artist, serving on Morotai and in Borneo. In 1947 he purchased a wattle and daub miner’s cottage at Hill End, in which he lived with Donald Murray.
Much of Friend's life and career was spent outside Australia, in places as diverse as Nigeria in the late 1930s, Italy in the 1950s, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) from 1957 to 1962, and Bali from 1967 until his final return to Australia in 1979, where he lived first in Melbourne and from 1981 in Sydney. He published a number of books including Donald Friend in Bali (1972), The Cosmic Turtle (1976), Bumbooziana (1979), The Farce of Sodom (1980), An Alphabet of Owls Et Cetera (1981) and Songs of the Vagabond Scholars (1982). His reputation has been clouded in recent years by the revelation of his serial paedophilia involving underage children in Bali and Sri Lanka.
Reference:
Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 17, 2017.

BOX 7
Letters from Donald Friend to his nephew David Friend (three with illustrations), 1960s-
1970s
Two draft letters from Donald Friend to unknown receipient
Letters from Donald Friend (“written by AL”) to Terence and Pam Friend, 1988-89
Letters from Donald Friend to Terence and Pam Friend, 1950s-1980s
Letters from Donald Friend (Ceylon) to Terence and Pam Friend, 1950s-60s
Letters from Donald Friend (Hill End) to Terence and Pam Friend, 1950s
Letter from Donald Friend (Bali) to Terence and Pam Friend, 1969
Letters received by Donald Friend, 1936 -1989. Correspondents include James Mollinson,
Geoffrey Dutton, Stuart Purves, Tim Curnow, Jeffrey Smart, Janet Hawley, John Olsen.
Postcards and cards received by Donald Friend.
Invitations

BOX 8
Exercise book: ‘D. Friend, Nonsense Etchings etc etc. ’86, 87’
Exercise book: ‘The Move to the Little House….’
5 Address books
Engagement Book, 1987
Photographs of Donald Friend and his house in Bali. Includes two glass negs.
Original drawings and notes
Exhibition catalogues
Miscellaneous material including: Book prospectuses; Eulogy for Donald Friend; Donald Friend’s CV; List of Carer’s duties; Valuation of Donald Friend’s Collection of Asian Art; Proofs of ‘Brief Encounters’ by Ron Saw, illustrated by Donald Friend; Sheet Music of ‘A Lonely Aussie’.
Newscuttings.
Material regarding the Moses family (Donald Friend’s father was born Leslie Moses but after a family quarrel in about 1920, he reverted to his mother’s maiden name of Friend.)

BOX 9X
Elephant folio proof sheets for Donald Friend's Book 4, Bumbooziana, published by Gryphon Books, Melbourne, 1979. Includes five single page proof sheets including the title page, and three double page sheets, numbered 97-98, 103-104 and 107-108.

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners
Research & study copies allowed: Applies only to material in which the author has been deceased for more than 50 years
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales