CBD Melbourne: Fairfax's other family jewels

Just over six months ago Lady Mary Fairfax’s estate sold the family’s sprawling Sydney waterfront home Fairwater to Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.

Now they have appointed fine art auction house Bonhams to flog the rest, even including the silverware.

The auction, scheduled for late September, is also expected to include hundreds of items from Sir Warwick Fairfax and Lady Mary’s New York penthouse, known as the Gilded Birdcage, and from the family’s Harrington Park homestead.

When Lady Mary died aged 95 in September 2017, her will left the estate to US-based Warwick Fairfax Jr, adopted children Charles Fairfax and Anna Cleary, and a son from an earlier marriage, Garth Symonds.

Although details of the items are yet to be disclosed, we hear a number of works have been shipped to Bonhams' London HQ for authentication and appraisal.

Bonhams will auction the contents of Sir Warwick and Lady Mary Fairfax's estate.Credit: Matt Golding

Sir Warwick’s son James Fairfax – from a previous marriage and said to be excluded from Lady Mary’s will – donated European masterworks valued at $30 million to the Art Gallery of NSW in the 1990s and sold many others at a Deutscher and Hackett auction in 2017.

At the time of Lady Mary’s death, the $700 million estate was being administered by her trusted business advisers Bruce Solomon, Jim Momsen, former KPMG partner Peter Done and her long-standing personal assistant Lee Thomas.

Sources said of particular interest were items from the family’s New York pile, a two-storey apartment in Upper East Side landmark The Pierre, which was once owned by the Getty family and which was home, for a time, to Elizabeth Taylor.

Bonhams last month auctioned more than 100 Sidney Nolan works owned by the estate of his widow Lady Mary Nolan.

McKENZIE NABS NATS' TOP SPOT

Back in Canberra, Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie was elected the party’s leader in the Senate by consensus at a meeting on Monday night.

In the room: Senator McKenzie, Resources Minister Matt Canavan, Country Liberal Sam McMahon, the NSW Nationals' Perrin Davey and Queenslander Susan McDonald.

But we hear there was some irritation that the decision wasn’t put to a vote.

Nationals sources told CBD Canavan, a well-regarded Senate performer, was strongly considering putting his hand up for the position.

Still, we are told Canavan is nothing if not philosophical about the outcome.

HAPPY NEW (POLITICAL) YEAR

Meanwhile, recently-arrived Trump man Arthur B. Culvahouse jnr hosted the US embassy’s annual July 4 celebrations at Canberra’s Questacon on Tuesday.

Politicians were scarce, but the event was popular with the defence and diplomatic crowd.

Spotted on the night: Defence chief Angus Campbell, Defence Department secretary Greg Moriarty, Malcolm Turnbull’s former chief of staff and former deputy NSW police commissioner Cath Burns, who disappeared into the Department of Foreign Affairs last year.

On Wednesday night the Liberal fundraising machine was back into gear, with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg hosting supporters at the National Press Club’s Barton Room.

The event, which shows there’s no time to waste capitalising on an election win, was backed by Novartis Pharmaceuticals with a guest list that included Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham, Financial Services Minister Jane Hume and Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar.

And it turns out that, despite the emphatic win, the Libs will be conducting an election review after all: future Australian ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos and former New Zealand finance minister Steven Joyce will write the report.

DALIDAKIS HITS THE ROAD

Australia Post’s newest executive, Philip Dalidakis, has wasted no time getting his feet under the desk at HQ.

The former Andrews government upper house MP last month ditched State Parliament to become Australia Post’s new executive general manager of corporate services.

He had his first day inside 111 Bourke Street on Monday.

By Wednesday he was in Canberra pressing the flesh with department heads and ministers at Parliament House, who he’ll soon be working with.

Presumably none of it felt too foreign.

In a past life, Dalidakis served as deputy chief of staff to then-communications minister Stephen Conroy, who also held the position as shareholder minister for Australia Post.

In other words, there’s no reason not to hit the ground running.

MAKING THE FINAL CUT

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s office appears to be taking no break from a post-election hiring spree that has left it full of heavy hitters, starting with early arrivals.

Now it has another recruit, this time from Education Minister Dan Tehan’s office.

Having worked for Tehan for several years, John Harris is in the Prime Minister’s Office as Morrison’s parliamentary and corporate director, there to look after governance and the parliamentary process.

Meanwhile, former Gillard communications minister Stephen Conroy has lost a key operator from his gambling lobby Responsible Wagering Australia.

Lucien Wells will join the office of deputy Labor leader Richard Marles, leaving former Bill Shorten staffer Shawn Lambert to replace him at Conroy’s outfit.

RWA members were apparently surprised with the speed and efficiency of the transition.

They got no warning Wells was leaving the lobby group, nor any warning Lambert would be starting on Monday.

What’s more surprising is that the switcheroo happened while Conroy was enjoying the sun, holidaying in Europe. It's great to see the lines of communication in Labor’s Victorian Right working better than ever.