Media Release

20 October 2008

Diaries Reveal Australian Artist’s Passion for Bali

Australian Ambassador Bill Farmer applauded the international launch of The Diaries of Donald Friend celebrate the highly regarded Australian artist and his passion for Bali.

“The life of this extraordinary Australian artist and writer, who lived in Bali for over a decade, demonstrates the depth and resonance of the enduring creative and artistic ties between Australia and Indonesia,” Ambassador Farmer said.

To mark the international launch of the Diaries at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2008, the Ambassador opened the ‘Unknown Friends’, a collection of deeply personal pieces about Donald Friend’s experiences and life in Bali. Held in the private collections of the artist’s friends and colleagues, this work has never before been shown publicly.

The Australian International Cultural Council (AICC) sponsored Australian writer, actor and director Terence Clarke to bring the Diaries to life with readings at the launch. The readings reveal Friend’s vulnerability, resilience, discipline and wit, as well as his deep affection for and understanding of the culture and people of Bali.

Donald Stuart Leslie Friend (1915 - 1989) was an Australian artist, writer and diarist. The Diaries of Donald Friend (edited from 44 of Friend’s diaries held in the Manuscript Collection of the National Library of Australia) are regarded as a major literary work, and place Friend among the most highly regarded diarists in the history of diary writing, including Samuel Pepys, James Agate and Andre Gide.

Published by the National Library of Australia, the four volumes of The Diaries of Donald Friend contain many examples of Friend’s drawings and paintings.
Volume 4 of The Diaries of Donald Friend, edited by Paul Hetherington, deals mainly with Friend’s time living and working in Bali between 1966 and 1979, presenting a valuable and unique view of Bali’s social and cultural history during this period.

In 2008, the AICC and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) are sponsoring a Cultural Diplomacy program IN2OZ: Creative Australia. The aim of this program is to strengthen cultural ties between Australia and Indonesia by reinforcing existing bilateral contacts and by cultivating and nurturing new areas of bilateral cooperation and exchange.

Media Enquiries:
Fiona Hoggart, First Secretary (Cultural) hp. 0811 936 302