REMEMBERING SAM FULLBROOK
Descending the stairs, a second hand Telecom truck awaited. Sam loaded and covered with a tarp his worldly possessions: Georgian and Victorian furniture, an outstanding portrait The Page Boy, c.1790s, a youth dressed in a pistachio green buttoned jacket by English painter John Opie (1761-1807), a large colonial painting of a racehorse as well as Gould prints, one of which a handsome Kookaburra, as well as paintings by his hand. The 1890 Blüthner grand piano, not part of this load, was placed in storage for the time being.
Beset by cataracts, Sam had no vision in his left eye, so my role as a passenger for the two–hours–plus journey from East Brisbane to Oakey on the Darling Downs was to be Sam’s left eye, giving due warning if he strayed too far onto the road’s shoulder.
The new property that greeted us was nude of structures, except for a distant windmill and tank stand. Unloading on the windswept hill, darkness descended. In time, Sam christened his new studio home “Cross Hill.” Recognising the aloneness Sam now found himself in, I left with him the book The Saying of the Desert Fathers.
A building was
