Radio star and the last member of the famed outback artist collective the Brushmen of the Bush, John Pickup OAM, passed away at his home in Murwillumbah yesterday at the age of 91.
The broadcaster, who spent more than 40 years at the ABC, had a long and colourful career working in radio and television across the country.
Pickup was also one of a group of five Broken Hill artists – the Brushmen of the Bush – who rose to international fame in the 1960s and 1970s with their depictions of outback landscapes and life.
Pickup's media career began in 1947, when friends convinced him to enter the 2UE Rumpus Room talent quest, which he won.
He went on to work at 2GB Macquarie, working in sound effects, before moving to the ABC in 1950.
Pickup worked in the sound effects department at ABC Broadcast House in Sydney, where he helped actors and sometimes animals to bring radio dramas to life.
In an interview with ABC Radio National's Late Night Live, Pickup related the story of how his hand became the first "animated object" ever seen on Australian television.
It happened when, as the floor manager of the first national ABC TV broadcast in 1956, he was given the task of opening a big book entitled The ABC Presents the Opening of Television in Melbourne, which featured in the opening shot of the broadcast.
"I took my right hand up to makeup [and] had it satisfactorily made up," Pickup said.
"Come eight o'clock, I get the cue from the floor manager. I pick up the book, I open to the first page.
"It just so happens that … my right hand is the first animated object seen on national television."
Outback bound
In the 1960s the ABC appointed Pickup regional manager at Broken Hill.
He told Late Night Live he spent some of the most significant years of his life there.
"I spent 27 plus years in Broken Hill and [it] was just so great — so many wonderful people, and you were absorbed into the community," Pickup said.
He was celebrated for keeping the station on air via the local telephone exchange after an intruder set fire to the ABC offices and studio.
It was during his time at ABC Broken Hill that he became acquainted with artists including Pro Hart.
Pickup formed friendships that would lead to the birth the Brushmen of the Bush collective.
Brush with fame
The collective was formed when Broken Hill artist Eric Minchin found himself short of paintings for a charity fundraising exhibition in Sydney.
He invited Pickup, Hart, Hugh Schulz, and Jack Absalom to join him and a Woman's Weekly article covering the event gave the group its moniker.
The collective went on to exhibit around Australia and internationally, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities.
Broken Hill artist Howard Steer said the members of the group were known for their generosity.
"They donated a lot of paintings to charities all over the country," he said.
Hart went on to become the most famous of the group, but Steer said each man brought something valuable to the collective.
"It was the perfect combination of skills," he said.
"Minchin was the accountant, Absalom had the bush skills, and John always had a microphone in hand — he was the media guy."
Pro's wife, Raylee Hart, fondly remembers gatherings with the Brushmen and their families, where exhibitions and trips overseas were planned.
"We'd all have a sing around Pro's organ, some beers, we'd all bring something for a meal," she said.
"There was a great sense of community."
Ms Hart said Pickup's death marked the end of an era, but was also the beginning of a new one for outback artists.
"There's always something else for another era," she said.
