The Cheltenham Cemetery Stobie Pole Project is engaging artists to paint the sides of stobie poles adjacent to the Cheltenham Cemetery with themes reflecting local history and figures buried in the cemetery. I have painted two sides.
One portrays Adelaide Miethke OBE, 1881 – 1962, an educator and teacher, initiator of the School of the Air, which used the existing Royal Flying Doctor Service radio network to connect teachers with students in remote and outback Australia.
The other side illustrates Henry Franson’s unfortunate death. He was head lighthouse keeper of the Wonga Shoal Lighthouse, marking the channel into Port Adelaide. At about 2.30 am on the 17th November 1912 the lighthouse was run into and destroyed by the sailing ship Dimsdale. Both lighthouse keepers drowned.
Adelaide Miethke and Henry Franson are buried in the Cheltenham Cemetery.
Simon Kneebone - cartoonist and illustrator 