By Luke Voogt
Rockhampton’s Marlene Millard returns to her birthplace of Geelong next month for an exhibition dedicated to family members who lost their lives to cancer.
Millard will display decades’ worth of pastel paintings at Aireys Inlet, including The Daffodils, dedicated to her sister who died of cancer in 2000.
“Daffodils were Joanne’s favorite flower,” she said.
“Joanne and I – right from when we were little children – used to garden and grow things together.”
The 55-year-old also lost her father to cancer in 2012 and she painted landscapes of the Otways in his honour.
“He loved Airey’s Inlet,” she said. “I think that he just loved the history.”
Millard’s descendants Thomas Pearse and Robert McConachy rebuilt the Bark Hut in the mid-1800s, while another ancestor John Wesley Anderson built Mountain House in 1900.
The Ash Wednesday fires destroyed both historic houses but locals restored the Bark Hut and renovated it in 2004.
Millard joins cousin and fellow artist Jan Harris for the exhibition, who lost both parents to cancer.
“Unfortunately there appears to be a strong problem with cancer in (our families),” she said.
The Geelong-born Millard grew up in Modewarre and lived in Herne Hill before moving to Queensland.
She won her first competition at the Royal Geelong Show in the fine arts category in 1980.
“I still have one sister still in Geelong,” she said.
“My father was on the Royal Geelong Show committee. My parents were very avid supporters of the Cats – very one-eyed of course.”
The exhibition runs at Aireys Pub from 18 to 26 November. The two artists will donate 10 per cent of proceeds to Fight Cancer Foundation.
