Jeffrey Smart

When I went to the unlovely building of the ‘Goodie Tech’, I reported to my headmaster. He was Paul Hilbig and I liked him immediately, and more importantly it turned out that he liked me. It was his first appointment as a headmaster, and he was a totally dedicated educationist with very advanced ideas. I was moved by his sincerity. He gave me absolute support when I outlined my idea of what I should do. There was no syllabus for art, none at all! It was an open go, and up to me to infuse my students with a love of painting and respect for art. Three years later, I was asked to sit on a Board to suggest a syllabus, and it was implemented.

His eloquent first report on me was very complimentary and encouraging. I wonder what Dr Penny at the Teachers College thought – he must have been pleasantly surprised.

Even though I had read that a ‘gift’ for drawing was common, usually ten per cent – about the same figure for colour blindness – I was still amazed at the talent my students showed. They fired me with enthusiasm – perhaps Adelaide was going to be like Renaissance Florence! It seemed so remarkable.

Young people had no hang-ups about art – I had them really enjoying Paul Klee, Miro and Matisse. I could put up a row of Ben Nicholsons and Mondrians and ask them which they preferred, and they could give reasons why they preferred this to that.

During four years, Mr Hilbig saw my enthusiasm wane, but he sympathised and respected me. He even bought a painting. When I left after four years, we remained friends, and he and his wife visited me in Rome years later.

In about my third year there, some wildly indecent drawings and poems were discovered in the lavatories. Mr Hilbig asked me and the English master, Reg McLean, to go with him to give an opinion. We all kept straight faces. ‘Now, gentlemen, what do you think?’ They were all by the same hand. Reg thought they were by a gifted literature student, and I considered them stylistically very capable. We also solemnly decided that the drawing of the vagina indicated there was more than theoretical knowledge. It had nothing to do with the old visual cliché, known so well to all of us. This indicated lascivious experience. So the boy had to be one who possibly was sexually active, and gifted in literature and drawing. We used logical deduction.

I listed the boys I thought could do it, as Reg did, and we arrived at the same boy – Kennedy! When interrogated by us, Kennedy broke down and confessed. VICTORY!’

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