‘For years and years I have driven up and down the coast and I drive past Ulmarra sometimes stopping at the 2nd hand places on the highway. Last Saturday I decided check out the town. What a gorgeous little village! Lots of cute shops and galleries right on the Clarence. I walked into one of the galleries and met this legend. He’s not a Lismore human but he knew and loved HOL so I interviewed him and thought I would share his story with you.’
Peter J. Hill –
“I was born in Scone in 1937, moved to Sydney and went to school in Marylands then onto Granville Tech. I left school at 15 and went out to Broken Hill to work with horses. I worked on a cattle and sheep property for many years and the owner of the property took a keen interest in the sketches I was doing. One day he went into Broken Hill and came back with all these paints and paint brushes which he gave to me. He said ‘Now you can teach yourself to paint.’ I could always draw when I was a kid so I taught myself to paint and about 40 years ago I decided to make a living out of it.
I was still working in other ways. I was employed to shoot Buffalo and Crocodiles up in the territory, I was fencing, everything to do with the bush. I was droving and shearing for a few years, right up to the QLD border and west of the Darling, down to the SE of South Australia and the western district of Victoria. It was while I was there I met my first wife. We married in 1967 and I started a caravan business. I did that for 11 years and then decided to paint full time to earn a living.
I started selling my art back in the 70’s. In the shearing days I would often take my easel out into the bush and paint the homesteads and the creek beds. I did a lot of painting up north of Broken Hill, the Barrier Range, the Blue Hills and the Coonaberry Range. I did some paintings at Burke and lived in Mildura for a while. I was still teaching myself to paint at this stage.
I have no idea how many paintings I’ve done and sold. Thousands! I’ve done a lot of commissions. Gorbachev has 2 of my paintings. I lived in Canberra for a while and the Australian Government bought some of my paintings. One of my big paintings is hanging in the Peoples Palace in China. The Canadian High Commissioner bought one. The Ambassador for Egypt has one. A gallery director in Greece bought one. One of my larger works is hanging in the World theatre in Charters Towers. I’ve had a lot of exhibitions all over the country. Jo Bjelke Petersen opened one of my shows as did Senator Margaret Reid.
My first wife passed away. We had 3 kids, 2 girls and a boy. We were divorced before she died but it was a mutual split. We got on really well until she had a stroke and she passed on. I have since remarried and I have 7 wonderful grandchildren.
We came here to retire and we virtually are but we opened this gallery nearly 4 years ago. It’s still a lot slower pace than having shows all the time.
I moved to Ulmarra and my mate Ron Wheatley was already here. He owns Sluggo’s on the highway. We’ve known each other since kindergarten and we’ve never had a cross word. It’s the definition of a true friendship. He joined the Police Force and I stayed out in the bush. We lost contact for many years and I had a show in Sydney at the AMP building. A cousin of mine lived at Manly and she invited me for dinner one night. I asked her boyfriend at the time what he did for a quid. He said he was a Detective in the Police force. I said ‘You probably wouldn’t know my mate Ron Wheatley and he said, Ron! he’s my partner! so he rang him and I went and stayed at Ron’s place a couple of nights. Here we both are now in Ulmarra. It’s a very small world.
I will die with a paintbrush in my hand. I’ve had a few health problems over the years included a kidney removed, steel plates inserted, stents in my heart, gall bladder removed and more but there’s definitely a few more paintings to squeeze from the tube.”