As part of Magnetic Times recess we take pleasure in republishing the following story from our printed editions, this time from September 2001. In this first of two parts, Magnetic Island's celebrated maritime artist, Denis Hardy, talks of his adventurous life and times, from a mudskipper childhood in South Townsville to dangerous military operations and the beginings of a Barefoot Gallery on Magnetic Island.

It is 1960 and Snowy Martin, an RAAF transport fitter is watching an airforce bomber which had just landed at Garbutt Airforce Base in Townsville. The plane had been on a bomb training exercise and had taxied in toward the awaiting ground crew. A big redheaded man steps out as the plane pulls to a halt. The engine is still running and the redheaded man walks under the craft, inspecting the undercarriage.
The release mechanism for a practice bomb has failed and the 12 kilo explosive hangs precariously while the redheaded man is looking up, trying to see what is holding it. The engine then splutters to a halt with a final shudder and, as it does, the bomb drops. But the redheaded man - a rugby league secondrower - takes the heavy mark and, cradling it like an infant, ever so gently unscrews the detonator, slips it into his pocket and puts the bomb down. This exhibition of coolness under extreme pressure was the bravest thing Snowy had ever seen. The redheaded man's name was Denis Hardy.

Dad was a good Lodge man - an Adelaide Steamship Company foreman - while mum was chronically Catholic says Denis Hardy, former yacht racing champ, RAAF armaments fitter, highly admired maritime artist and, now, former owner of Nelly Bay's Barefoot Gallery.

Born at his grandmother's house in McIllwraith Street, South Townsville, Denis is a genuine Mudskipper the traditional name given to all born in the low lying, Ross Island vicinity. As a small child Denis still remembers the slit trenches and the day the Japs bombed a coconut tree south of the city.

We were told to run into the trenches for protection but when we got there it was full of Yank servicemen! says Denis with a wheezy laugh. I remember Victory Day well. They pinned a victory medal on all of us kids and sent us home for the rest of the day. Some wharfies stole a keg from the yanks and opened it up in the street passing out drinks to other wharfies on their way home.

It was a childhood of unlimited freedom as far as Denis was concerned. I learnt to run on the mudflats without burning my feet. We'd spend our free time doing all the things kids would want to do: prawning with a cast net, shenanigans with catapults, paddling around in tin canoes and going to war with the Railway Estate mob.

But Denis had another childhood interest, it was more of a passion and a talent. I can remember drawing boats when I was five. I would look at them and go home and draw them and the gulls. It was instinctive he says.

High school was a more authoritarian experience. I went to the Brother's college in Stanton Crescent where discipline was swift and reinforced with leather. We all played rugby league and though it was acceptable to lose against Mt Carmel (Catholic school) going down against Grammar (Church of England) was simply not on. Some of the Brothers were dedicated teachers while others were little short of fascists. If we lost to Grammar we'd be kept in for extra Latin on Saturdays.

In 1958, Denis, who'd been a bright pupil, went off to the Justice Department to study law. He found the experience, however, intensely boring and soon left to join the airforce. I was looking for some adventure and wanted to be a pilot. says Denis who was first sent to Richmond Air Base and later to Wagga Wagga.

Unfortunately Denis's eyesight wasn't up to scratch for piloting. Instead, he became an armaments fitter. I was trained up by 1961 and sent to San Diego California to the Lockheed factory where I learned all about the reconnaissance and anti-sub Neptune bombers. I trained in electronic missile systems.

While stationed in California Denis got to see the work of the marine painters of the Monterey peninsular. I visited Carmel a small town which happened to have eighty galleries. They were almost all dedicated to marine art. People came from all over the U.S. to visit and I saw what could be done and I got very interested and enthused.

Denis (far left) with mates including, "Meatball" Richardson at centre right at Alma Bay in the 1960s.

But, according to Denis, "Meatball fell foul of the one Island cop. Meatball was in the habit of wearing fairly brief, swimming togs. Unfortunately his rolls of fat would tend to cause the togs to roll down a bit too far and one day the cop approached him saying, If you appear on the Island tomorrow like that I'm gonna arrest you!' Meatball protested saying they were the legal 4 inches on the side but the Island cop told him he was setting a bad example. The next day everybody showed up at the beach to watch the event unfold and to our delight Meatball appeared before the policeman and all in his togs but they were held up by a pair of fireman's braces and therefore legal. Amid derisive cheers the cop retreated."

Story: George Hirst

I have only just read of Dennis Hardy's passing.

I knew Dennis well in the early 1960's when we were at 10 squadron. I was an Engine Fitter, and on one occasion we were on exercises at the NAS Barbers Point in Hawaii. Dennis and I were having a beer at the bar in the "enlisted men's club" and on the wall behind the bar was a magnificent velvet painting of a semi clad native girl. I said to Dennis how much I would like to own that painting and his reply was that he could paint one for me just like it. He purchased the velvet there in Hawaii and painted the picture after we got back to Townsville. He also painted for me an "impression" of a bullfight he had witnessed in Mexico whilst on the trip which acquired the Neptunes. These painting remained with my first wife after our divorce in 1988 but sadly, they were destroyed in a house fire in the early 1990's. The last time I spoke with Dennis was at a wine and cheese effort in Brisbane where some of his sea-scapes  were on display along with another Townsville artists work. I remember well a dear older lady at that function asking me if I had any of Dennis' paintings and of course I said I owned two dated paintings he did for me in the RAAF. Well she argued black and blue that Dennis did not date his work. She ate humble pie of course when Dennis confirmed to her that he did in fact date my paintings. After that she pestered me to sell them but sadly, I did not.   I liked Dennis a lot and he was always a very friendly fellow. The world is a much sadder place for his passing.    

Ron Aubrey,
Yandina, Queensland.  
07 - 54467784