Jean & Adam ARNOLD/Jean WHITHAM
JEAN WHITHAM, WHO BECAME JEAN ARNOLD, AND ADAM ARNOLD:
19 AND 105 ANNETTS PARADE MOSSY POINT.
Jean Whitham was a widow in Canberra after World War 2, she'd had an interesting life before that, including work in the Australian outback as a shearers' cook, and once she paid her way to England by sketching passengers on the ship.
She taught art at Canberra Church of England Girls Grammar School for a few years, then moved to the Coast in the late 1940s and taught at Moruya High School. Her specialty was portraits in pastel. She had attended art classes by Julian Ashton, and signed her works 'J. Marsh' or 'JM'. The picture on the left below was painted in Sydney while she was at the VP Day celebrations at the end of World War 2, in 2006 the Australian War Memorial gratefully accepted an offer by Richard Fisher to donate it to their collection. The portrait on the right is of Richard Fisher in 1949.
19 AND 105 ANNETTS PARADE MOSSY POINT.
Jean Whitham was a widow in Canberra after World War 2, she'd had an interesting life before that, including work in the Australian outback as a shearers' cook, and once she paid her way to England by sketching passengers on the ship.
She taught art at Canberra Church of England Girls Grammar School for a few years, then moved to the Coast in the late 1940s and taught at Moruya High School. Her specialty was portraits in pastel. She had attended art classes by Julian Ashton, and signed her works 'J. Marsh' or 'JM'. The picture on the left below was painted in Sydney while she was at the VP Day celebrations at the end of World War 2, in 2006 the Australian War Memorial gratefully accepted an offer by Richard Fisher to donate it to their collection. The portrait on the right is of Richard Fisher in 1949.
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In the 1950s Araluen was the name she gave to her newly built house at 19 Annetts Parade, it was the first house in Mossy Point that had an attic. Back then, it was also the first house on the way in from the highway. In around 1957 she married Adam Arnold, they lived there for a while.
Adam Arnold was a local real estate agent. His signs were meant to say:
“A. D. ARNOLD MOSSY POINT”
but they always looked as though they said:
“A DARN OLD MOSSY POINT”.
Around 1960 Jean and Adam moved to 105 Annetts Parade, they took the house name Araluen with them, the house is now Heritage Listed for its “Local social significance, it was the residence of well known local artist and Moruya school teacher Jean Arnold for many years”. After Adam died in the late 1970s, Jean did stay at Mossy Point on her own for a while but then she returned to her native Tasmania. She died around 1990 in Hobart aged 90 plus. Her easel is in the Moruya Museum.
Adam Arnold was a local real estate agent. His signs were meant to say:
“A. D. ARNOLD MOSSY POINT”
but they always looked as though they said:
“A DARN OLD MOSSY POINT”.
Around 1960 Jean and Adam moved to 105 Annetts Parade, they took the house name Araluen with them, the house is now Heritage Listed for its “Local social significance, it was the residence of well known local artist and Moruya school teacher Jean Arnold for many years”. After Adam died in the late 1970s, Jean did stay at Mossy Point on her own for a while but then she returned to her native Tasmania. She died around 1990 in Hobart aged 90 plus. Her easel is in the Moruya Museum.
Remembered as a wonderful and jolly woman, she and Netta Fisher (119 Annetts Parade) were firm friends from just after World War 2 and still corresponded even after Jean moved back to Tasmania.
At the time of Netta Fisher's death in 2007, she still had the following memento of her friendship with Jean, typed out and with a handwritten annotation by Netta 'Jean Arnold's Creed'.
The more you give, the more you get.
The more you laugh, the less you fret.
The more you do unselfishly,
The more you live abundantly.
The more of everything you share
The more you'll have to share.
The more you love, the more you'll find
That life is good, and friends are kind.
For only what we give away
Enriches us from day to day.
