Putting the Bite on the Publican, Kogan Creek Hotel, South West Queensland – SOLD
Detail photos for this Artwork
One of the most desirable Hugh Sawrey’s in my Art Studio at the moment is this wonderfully entertaining pub scene that depicts the drinkers and the publican in the bar of the Kogan Creek Hotel in Western Queensland.
Sawrey’s bar room scenes are amongst his most collectable and sought after works, particularly those that feature the legendary Kogan Creek Hotel – a place that was close to Sawrey’s heart and now an important location for the folklore surrounding Sawrey’s life.
The small towns, farms and cattle properties around Queensland’s Western Downs are places that are rich in Hugh Sawrey history, stemming from his time there in the 1950’s and 60’s.
After leaving school, Sawrey worked far and wide as a stockman, drover, and shearer on stations throughout Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. In the 1950’s he lived and worked on his mother’s property, “Holdfast”, at Kogan Creek between Dalby and Chinchilla. Thus began his association with the tiny town of Kogan located on the Kogan Creek, a tributary of the Condamine River. The pub at Kogan provided a turning point for Sawrey when in 1959, he painted murals for his publican friend, Nelson “Darkie” Dwyer on the pub walls, as well as an artwork on the ceiling of Kogan’s post office. Sawrey also completed other murals and artworks for pubs and hotels in nearby Dalby and Tara.
The positive reception to his paintings and murals encouraged Sawrey to move to Brisbane in 1964 to focus on his art, setting up his first studio in the Royal Hotel in Queen Street, which then propelled him on the path to becoming a very successful artist with his paintings now much loved and collected Australia-wide.
As well as leaving the wonderful legacy to Australia of his paintings that record narratives of life on the land, Sawrey also went on to become a co-founder of the Stockman’s Hall of Fame at Longreach.
Sawrey’s oils that feature the Kogan Creek Hotel are keenly sought after by collectors, so please don’t hesitate to contact me if this work is of particular interest.
