George and I met in early 1973, through a mutual friend. Shops closed at midday on Saturdays in those days. My friend, Paul, worked in a large department store at Warringah Mall, in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney. If I were to tell you that the name of the department store was Grace Bros and that Paul worked in the Menswear Dept, I’m sure you’d think I was making that up! Just goes to show that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, because Paul did really work in the Menswear Dept of Grace Bros. And he was somewhat of a Mr Humphries type character too. But I digress.
It was a glorious high-summer February day and Paul and I had made plans to spend the afternoon at nearby Narrabeen beach. I called for Paul after he'd finished work and we made our way to his place, where we were going to change for the beach. Paul mentioned that a friend of his lived en route. He asked if I’d mind detouring to visit the friend, rather than going to the beach that afternoon. I’d set my heart on going to the beach, so was none too pleased about Paul’s request. I reluctantly agreed, however.
Paul rang the bell, George answered the door, and the rest is history. It was love at first sight for me. I’ve never experienced, before or since, such an overpowering feeling of passion. It was like I’d been kicked in the head by a mule! I thought George was the most beautiful man I had ever seen.
George was lodging at the time in the spare room of another of Paul’s friends, Frank. To cut a long story short, George soon moved into a nearby furnished garden flat, so we could spent quality time together. He had recently left the Royal Australian Navy, so had few possessions, and I was living with my parents at the time. The garden flat was attached to the home of an elderly lady who was an artist and children’s book author/illustrator. One of her paintings hung on the wall of the flat. When George and I got our own apartment six months later, I purchased the painting from the old lady, as a keepsake and remembrance of the happy times George and I had shared in that little garden flat together, not to mention the wonderful lovemaking we had experienced there. We were both so young.
I still have that painting to this day; still framed in the original, battered, old frame. I’ve thought of having it re-framed in a posh, gilt frame, but can’t bring myself to do it. It would be almost like a sacrilege. Certainly, for me, this painting is a holy relic. It is one of the first things I would reach for if I had to flee a burning building. It now hangs in my bedroom. It is painted in oils on canvas and is 25x20cm (10x8in). Though there’s no date on it, I suspect it was painted sometime in the 1940s.
“The Doomed Castle” by Mavis Mallinson
Detail from “The Doomed Castle” by Mavis Mallinson
Detail from “The Doomed Castle” by Mavis Mallinson