Have you seen this painting?

Premier of Victoria

Level 1, 1 Treasury Place,

East Melbourne, VIC 3002

11 November 2016

Dear Premier Andrews,

I’m writing with concern over the theft of a Victorian heritage painting my great grandfather William Short Snr. painted in 1898 depicting the Hanging Rock Races, Woodend, New Year Cup Meeting. The painting is in oils on canvas, 113 cm x 165 cm, in it’s original gilded frame. The only photo I have was taken with inadequate lighting.   

I was gifted the painting when my mother died in 2012 and share ownership with my siblings. I’ve viewed it only once since it came into my ownership, shortly after my mother’s death, because my siblings have concealed its whereabouts. A third of my mother’s estate and my own artwork has also gone missing. I’ve been denied legal representation by a suburban lawyer and Victoria Police has declined to intervene following a cursory investigation.

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After my father died in the late 1990s my mother made a Will nominating Berwick solicitor Peter Wollerman, the son of her best friend, as executor. On a visit to my mother in 2007 I met with Mr Wollerman, who advised that my sister had removed my mother’s Will from his office and a new Will had been made. I hadn’t been consulted. My siblings had arranged the new Will without my knowledge, nominating my sister’s eldest son as executor. Mr Wollerman agreed to act on my behalf when my mother died with a view to contesting the new Will after I assured him funds from my share of the estate could cover costs.

I contacted Mr Wollerman’s office after my mother’s death and was informed that he was not available but that Mr Dominic Conway would represent me. Mr Conway accepted instructions but would not respond to my requests for an estimate of costs to challenge the Will. After some time I received an account for around $540.00 with advice that Mr Conway would proceed no further until it was paid. I was unable to meet this or any further demands for money until the estate was distributed, so I lodged a complaint with the Legal Services Commissioner. By the time the complaint was resolved the matter was out of time. I had been denied the right to challenge my mother’s Will, I hadn’t even viewed the probate documents, so it would come as some surprise that a third of her estate was missing when it was distributed. I contacted several other solicitors including Slater & Gordon, Armstrongs, Nevette Ford, Gerard Malouf and Maddens, all of whom declined to represent me because the matter was out of time.

In 2014 I wrote to Crimestoppers with complaints of theft and blackmail against my siblings and nephew. Detective Senior Constable Mark Wiederhold investigated the matters and concluded that nothing had been stolen because the alleged thieves had made no admissions and my nephew’s email to me that he would spend my inheritance on his mortgage if I continued to refuse to sign a release form, was only a joke. He had previously embroiled my four year old granddaughter, of Wiradjuri descent, in his efforts to compel me to consent to his distribution of my mother’s estate, removing her intended $4,000 inheritance when I failed to comply before threatening to remove what remained of my inheritance altogether, adding elements of casual racism and child exploitation to his conduct.

I wrote to Chief Commissioner Ken Lay with concern over the integrity of the investigation. Detective Senior Constable Wiederhold replied that it was nothing to do with him because it was a civil matter. He made no mention of this during or at the completion of his investigation. I wrote to Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton, again with concern over the integrity of Detective Senior Constable Wiederhold’s investigation and received a response from Acting Inspector Patrick Allen confirming the detective’s approach. On the advice of the Office of the Minister for Police, in March 2016 I lodged a complaint of an error of judgement against Detective Senior Constable Wiederhold with the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (attached) and have yet to receive a response other than that I’m not a protected person.

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My mother long suspected my siblings, career public high school teachers, might succumb to rivalry over my determination to pursue my family’s heritage in the arts. William Short Snr’s father, Henry Short, volunteered as artist on the 1860/1 Burke and Wills expedition but was left behind. His painting commemorating the expedition has been displayed at Federation Square. William Short Snr’s son, William Short, aka Uncle Willy, was an artist of lesser acclaim, as was his daughter, my grandmother, Annie Short. My mother, who had befriended Sid Nolan and Albert Tucker during their sojourns to Sandringham beach, taught music. I grew up surrounded by heritage artwork and the materials that produced it. In the early 1970s I trained at Martin Sharpe’s ‘Yellow House’ in Potts Point, Sydney and have produced, exhibited and sold artwork in Australia, New Zealand and Europe over 50 years.

In the 1980s my mother purchased two properties at Rye and Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peninsula where she spent much of her childhood, one for herself and the other for her children. I was invited to use one of the properties as a studio on the provision my siblings and their families could stay at any time. Her expectation that my siblings, from whom I’d become estranged, would visit during holidays and become acquainted with my career in the arts, was dashed when over the next decade my brother stayed for one night only and my sister for half an hour. My mother was heartbroken. Eventually I left to teach Aboriginal Studies at UNSW and reintegrate with the Sydney arts community.

After my father died my siblings made demands on my mother for compensation of $50,000 in her Will for what they claimed was rent I owed on the property I’d been invited to share with them. She resisted and lodged a Will with Mr Wollerman, only to be voided when my siblings arranged a new Will in their favour when she was ninety years old, afflicted with onset dementia and in a state of mind Mr Wollerman described as “bloody minded”. The Rye property was sold in 1995 and a further property purchased at McCrae. Thereafter, as I remained in Sydney and my siblings gained power of attorney and took control of my mother’s estate, I received no further updates. A decade before her death my mother owned a property portfolio that at the time she passed would have added more than $500,000 to the value of her estate had it not gone missing.

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William Short Snr’s depiction of the New Year Cup Meeting at Hanging Rock in 1898 is his seminal work, completed towards the end of his career. It was placed on sale in Melbourne for 100 guineas but remained unsold for sixteen years as his style had gone out of fashion, to be replaced by a new wave of artists that included Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton. The painting was passed to his daughter Annie, then my mother, and became a focal point of the Sandringham home in which I grew up.

After my mother died my brother agreed to obtain a condition report and valuation of the painting from David Freeman, whom the Victorian Artists Society had recommended. Mr Freeman was never granted access. Instead, I received a valuation by Lauraine Diggins dated 1 April, 2007 that my sister had concealed until just prior to the distribution of the Will in 2013, and soon after, a second, updated valuation by Ms Diggins. Ms Diggins attributed the painting to William Short (Uncle Willy). The actual artist, his father William Short Snr., whose signature appears on the painting, was far more prominent, so Ms Diggins’ valuations of $45,000 and $65,000 were grossly undervalued. My mother reminded my siblings and myself frequently during our upbringing of the distinction between her grandfather William Short Snr. and Uncle Willy. Had she been of sound mind when Ms Diggins’ first valuation was made, nineteen days before the substituted Will was signed on 20 April, 2007, she would surely have noticed.

As my mother’s health deteriorated she was relocated from her residence in Berwick to my brother’s property at Macclesfield. On two occasions that I was advised, she was moved to nursing homes, then returned to my brother’s care to avoid further expense, where his eldest daughter reported that she required constant attention and suffered frequent tantrums day and night. An uncle and retired physician visited and suggested that she should be placed into immediate medical care. I was not informed as to whether his advise was heeded. The distribution of her estate indicated that at her death she had no assets apart from her residence and my great grandfather’s painting and no funds to pay for her welfare. My nephew reimbursed my siblings the cost of her funeral from the sale of her residence as well as $20,000 I had borrowed from the estate in the twenty months following my mother’s death, funds that were not declared amongst her assets. Her entire estate, apart from her residence and the painting, had been stolen and she was denied adequate medical care towards the end of her life.

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My brother removed the painting to his property at Macclesfield when my mother was relocated. I became concerned about it’s condition when he revealed that he would hastily transport it, uncrated in a horse float, to my sister’s property at Narre Warren ahead of bush fire fronts. I’d once lost an exhibition of my own artwork to a fire at Hepburn Springs, so after I was gifted a share, I considered putting it up for sale on Ebay or elsewhere to attract a corporate arts investor with the legal clout to ensure it was cared for in an appropriate manner. However, since my siblings had already refused access, I could not guarantee a viewing to a prospective purchaser. Neither could I submit the painting for heritage registration.

After my mother’s Will was distributed my siblings informed me that they intended to sell the painting, to which I responded that as the only living career artist in the family I wanted to retain my share and sought custodianship. My siblings have since declined to respond to any of my attempts to contact them. My nephew had indicated that they could probably sell the painting without my consent. The last email I received from him, in 2013, comprised the words, “Fuck off you moron”. Detective Senior Constable Wiederhold claimed the painting was held “in good faith” at my sister’s property. Her last known address was sold in 2015. A letter I recently posted to my sister at my nephew’s last known address was returned recipient unknown. My brother’s last known address, a home he owned, is now a rental property. I posted a letter to an address at which he has a telephone connected in Brighton but it was also returned recipient unknown. Letters to an extended family have similarly been returned or refused response, including one to a cousin awarded Australian of the Year in the year before my mother’s death sent to a residence he has a telephone connected, returned “left address”.

My great grandfather’s painting is an important contribution to Victoria’s heritage. It has been stolen and I have no prospect for achieving it’s recovery. Can you please assist?

Thanks for any attention you may give to this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Philip McKeon

28 Cullen Street,

Nimbin. NSW 2480

philip@2mf.net

cc: Victorian Artists Society

(edited 27/10/17)

2mf.net