Even Keeler: Freight tycoon unloads art

Cartoon: Rod Clement

The enduring print image of Christine Keeler taken at Lewis Frederick Morley’s London studio in 1963 was the most iconic offering when freight tycoon Pat Corrigan’s collection of black and white photography went to recent auction.

The naked posing Keeler, shielded by a knock-off of an Arne Jacobsen Model 3107 chair, was photographed at the height of the scandal over the relationship between the teenager and married British politician John Profumo, then secretary of state for war.

For five decades Keeler, who died in 2017, some four years after Morley, was quietly sent £500 every time he printed off another image, Margin Call gleans.

The signed silver gelatine photograph, printed in the 1990s, was inscribed: For Patrick — For old times’ sake — Fondest regards Fred.

The famous Christine Keeler image.

It wasn’t the top seller of Corrigan’s 60 offerings at $19,000, and the same image has sold for a high as $29,000 in prior auctions.

Corrigan also secured $19,000 when David Moore’s1966 Migrants Arriving in Sydney sold for well above its $4000 to $6000 estimate.

The dearest lot was $26,000 for a 1976 photo by Carol Jerrems. It was Juliet holding Vale Street, the liberationist image that sold against an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000 by its auctioneers Deutscher and Hackett.

Corrigan has split his time between the Gold Coast and Sydney over recent decades. He’s retained an apartment in Sydney since the 1989 sale of his Vaucluse trophy home, Kainga, a Federation house, for $6.1m. Sydney’s first electric chandeliers featured in the house, which entrepreneur Sam Linz, who has backed businesses including Rebel Sport, Barbecues Galore and the Norgen-Vaaz ice-cream chain, then resold in 2013 for $12.6m to the Hemmes family.

Corrigan, 88, was born in China in 1932. He left in 1941 but was in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Hong Kong for four years, where they met Morley, before arriving in Sydney in 1946.

His lifetime working in the freight and customs brokerage saw the 1970 importation of the largest ever painting into Australia — American Dream, a 2.4m x 22m work by Brett Whiteley, weighing 2.5 tonnes, for exhibition at the Bonython Gallery in Sydney.

Corrigan’s career often saw him confused with stevedoring magnate Chris Corrigan. They are unrelated, and when quizzed Pat Corrigan always pointed out that he was the “poorer one”.

Weaving her magic

The 2013 Archibald Prize-winning painting of actor Hugo Weaving by artist Del Kathryn Barton fetched a bullish $220,000 at online auction on Wednesday night, plus 22 per cent buyers’ commission. It had been tipped to sell for between $120,000 and $160,000 through Deutscher and Hackett.

“Hugo Weaving is an Australian cultural treasure, an artist in every sense of the word,” Barton said after her Archibald win.

“More than anything I hoped to portray a sincere, deep, generous and creative soul.”

There’s no disclosed provenance nor confirmation but Margin Call gleans the 2m x 1.8m painting has been hanging at Weaving’s Paddington home following its initial year-long regional gallery tour, having been acquired directly from the acclaimed artist.

Packer’s clean slate

What else do you do during a pandemic-driven lockdown and ensuing economic meltdown?

We’re all trying to use the time well. Perhaps tackling a small do-it-yourself project, a garden clean-up, or maybe a clean-out of the top cupboards.

It’s no different if you are a billionaire. Just ask Crown Resorts major shareholder James Packer, whose Australian gambling dens have been closed as the global health crisis unfolds.

Recent months have seen the 52-year-old’s key lieutenants further paring back the complex corporate web that Packer’s life had previously devolved into.

Dozens of redundant vehicles have been deregistered by Packer operative Michael Johnston, who is also a director of Crown, with at least 10 entities done away with. Off the books are a couple of familiar names including Packer’s Palidye No 2 and Palidye No 3 vehicles, along with the iconicly named Consolidated Gaming Pty Ltd, of which Johnston and his fellow Crown director and London-based Consolidated Press Holdings boss Guy Jalland were both directors. Also off the books are the Rosgrove, Nicarby and Molland entities.

The clearer corporate slate and recovery in Crown shares from their COVID-19 low of $6 at the end of March to more than $10 a share yesterday is all good news for the billionaire, whose Sydney Crown casino is set to be finished by the end of the year.

Salvos Zoom ahead

The Salvation Army’s annual Red Shield Appeal will look a little different this year — reinvented as a digital door knock — after a COVID-19 era play on the board headed by businessman Richard Grellman. And the launch lunch will be held on Zoom, with business leaders joining the charity fundraiser on Friday from all over Australia to raise funds for the Salvos’ social services projects. It kicked off in 1965 as the signature fundraising drive for vulnerable Australians.

Channel 7’s Melissa Doyle will host the launch, with chief secretary Colonel Winsome Merrett, a board member at The Salvos, and Major Brendan Nottle her co-hosts.

The newly minted Resilience NSW Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, the former head of the NSW Rural Fire Service, will be discussing how Australians recover from crises and the important roles not-for-profit organisations like The Salvation Army play during such times.

The Openpay chairman Patrick Tuttle leads the Salvos’ individual tally board on $45,000 raised so far, followed by Sydney estate agent Brad Pillinger with property developer Mirvac heading the ASX-listed leaderboard.

Solitary sleepout

The upcoming Vinnies CEO Sleepout, which raised $7.9m last year, is different too in its 15th year. TV personality Andrew Rochford will host the chilly mid-June live stream, but rather than the cold night camaraderie under the stars, fundraisers will be camping out in their own back yards, couches or cars.

So far Vedran Drakulic, John Gandel’schief executive of his philanthropic ventures, is the top fundraiser with $155,000 raised. He’s set to better his $180,000 personal best of last year. His individual donors include Jane Hansen, Glyn Davis and John Kaldor and Andrew Hagger.

Bank SA’s boss, Nick Reade,has raised over $50,000.

Gina Rinehart’slongtime executive Sanjiv Manchanda, who is now leading mining company Atlas Iron, has raised over $27,000. He’s had support from miner Chris Ellison.

Just horsing around

William Inglis & Son bloodstock agents are having another go at selling some yearlings in what they have dubbed Easter Round 2 on a Sunday in early July at Riverside Stables, Warwick Farm. In what’s expected to be the first physical sale since COVID-19 restrictions, the latest catalogue features 94 yearlings by stallions including Snitzel, Pierro, Dundeel and Not A Single Doubt, as well as international superstars like Frankel and Medaglia d’Oro.

First season sires include Capitalist who is very well represented.

Strict biosecurity measures will be in place on inspection days and sale day, according to Inglis general manager of bloodstock and marketing Sebastian Hutch.

The initial two day early April sale grossed $68m with the hammer coming down on seven horses fetching more than $1m. The sale average of $318,040 was only slightly down on 2019’s. It was done without any from John Messara’s Arrowfield Stud. Tom Magnier’s Coolmore grossed $7,530,000 as the leading vendor. The leading sire was I Am Invincible, grossing $14.2m from 27 lots sold at an average of $526,000.

The delayed Easter sales will be followed by the annual Scone sale, also at Riverview.