Nestled in the lower reaches of the Great Dividing Range, the picturesque National Trust village of Bellbrook has attracted many artists and writers in its time.
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One of these was Stephen Franks, who had a studio and gallery there in the 1980s.
Stephen James Franks was born in Hornsby, Sydney on 6 April 1942 to Marjorie Joyce Hall (nee Campbell) and Leslie Franks.
Marjorie had married Edwin Hall at St Andrews Church, Hornsby on August 1, 1936 and their only other child, a daughter Lynette, was born in December 1938.
Stephen's mother, Marjorie, was a daughter of Herbert and Isobel Campbell, Upper Hunter pioneers.
She was born at their homestead "Teralba", Brushy Hill, near Scone.
Marjorie and Edwin divorced in 1953 and Marjorie remarried to William Henry Franks two years later.
Stephen attended college in Melbourne, learning carpentry and joinery and started painting in between working as a carpenter.
He initially took correspondence courses in commercial art before taking full time tutorship in painting but claimed his greatest teacher was the Australian bush, which he painted as he found it.
He took up painting seriously in the 1960s and had a prolific output of nudes, portraits and landscapes, working mostly in oils.
He married Janice Elizabeth Anne Mills in Strathfield in 1966 and the couple lived in Hornsby, Orange and Bellbrook before they divorced. There was one child of the marriage.
While passing through Kempsey on his way to Rockhampton, Stephen lost a wheel off his trailer and was assisted by the local Macleay Volunteer Rescue Squad (later SES). Grateful for the assistance, Stephen returned to Kempsey to hold an art exhibition and sale to benefit the Rescue Squad.
The exhibition, held in the RSL Memorial Hall in March 1980, raised $2,110 for the Squad.
Encouraged by his success on the Macleay, Stephen established a studio and art gallery at Bellbrook later that year.
Stephen set up his Gallery in the historic Dew homestead in East Street, Bellbrook.
The house was built in 1919 by McKenzies Creek Hereford cattle breeder, Tom Dew, and featured red mahogany walls, red cedar architraves and tallowwood floors.
Tragically the house would later be destroyed by fire in July 1987.
Steve claimed to be the biggest selling artist by volume in Australia at the time, having painted and sold 736 works of art in 1979 alone.
He moved away from Bellbrook in 1984 and settled at Wangbangalang, near Dubbo.
In 2002, Stephen was involved in an ill-fated criminal venture with two other men at Coonamble in north western New South Wales.
Arrested and placed in the back of a police paddy wagon, Stephen was later found dead by his own hand. He was 60 years old.
A palette with a bush landscape painted by Stephen Franks in oils in 1994 was donated to Kempsey Museum in 2022 and is a fine example of his skill as a landscape artist.
Ironically, Stephen's death in controversial circumstances boosted both his profile and the resale price of his art.
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