Bryce Courtenay Celebration of life at Saint
Marks church Darling Point. Picture: Craig Greenhill Source:
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph reports
Novelist Bryce Courtenay will be laid to rest
in the ACT on Monday on a plateau that reminded the prolific writer of the
grasslands of his native South Africa.
In the final months before stomach cancer claimed him, the
adman-turned-author, who was raised in South Africa and lived in London before
making Australia his home, began a search for a final resting place.
Courtenay eventually settled on the ACT village of Hall after
discovering that the native grasses, yellowbox and eucalpyts at Hall Cemetery
also grow wild in South Africa.
"He chose Hall for his final repose because he had a great
affection for the flora that was true to his home in South Africa,"
funeral guest Shane Mortimer said this week.
The author's funeral on Wednesday was a bizarre event filled with much
eccentric symbolism.
His wife of one-year Christine, assembled a pastiche of arts and crafts
around the vestibule of St Mark's Darling Point, transforming the forecourt
into a mini agricultural show exhibit. A live boxing bout would not have been
out of place.
To the left of the entrance was an old barrow laden with tomatoes, corn,
eggplant and zucchini - a nod to Courtenay's devotion to his vegie patch.,
Next to the barrow were tables, one covered in a cloth of tribal print,
a second with what looked to be a child's bedroom quilt. On this was a vase of
red roses. the significance of which was also largely lost on mourners. Inside
the vestibule was a bookstand, with copies of his last work, Jack Of Diamonds -
released this month at the author's urging. Next to the books was a portrait of
the writer in which he was holding a teddy bear.
The church service was an eclectic mix of styles. The 90-minute
"celebration" of Courtenay's life kicked off with Battle Hymn Of The
Republic (well known to South Sydney fans), followed by Elton John's Can You
Feel The Love Tonight from the soundtrack of The Lion King, a live performance
of jazz standard Summertime, an African traditional song Who Killed Cock Robin?
and a chorus of Jerusalem and Verdi's Chorus Of The Hebrew Slaves From Nabucco.
As Courtenay's coffin was carried from the church, women, some wearing
red party dresses, assembled to form a guard of honour. Courtenay's coffin,
with flowers and quilts (among them a Canberra Brumbies rugby scarf and a
Himalayan shawl), was carried under the dipping sunflowers through a courtyard
in which some mourners appeared to be distributing copies of his novel while
others were being presented with packets of sunflower seeds.
It looked for all the world like a bustling market square.
Funeral organisers were unwilling to decipher the symbolism of the arts
and crafts-styled event.
Courtenay's sons from his first marriage, Adam and Brett, honoured their
father with tributes. Their mother, Courtenay's first wife Benita, was also
remembered. Following Courtenay's death on November 22, many were moved to
mourn Benita anew. His wife of 42 years and the mother of his three sons died
of leukaemia in 2007, seven years after their divorce.
At the time of her death, Courtenay wept to this columnist as he painted
a picture of his ex-wife's final days. He was "wiping her lips" when
she died, he said.
Some of Courtenay's extended family were infuriated by this interview.
One accused me of becoming an "accessory" to his melodramatic
behaviour. He had, they said, effectively "hijacked" Benita's funeral
with the singing of two impromptu songs after his eulogy.
One family member later corrected the storyteller's claim he had nursed
Benita to her death: "Her son Adam nursed Benita in the last year of her
life. Bryce was living with Dorothy in the country." Dorothy was Dorothy
Gliksman, one of Courtenay's girlfriends.
The Power Of One author, who acknowledged "indiscretions" in
his marriage, also had a relationship with literary agent Margaret Gee, sister
of his second wife Christine.
Despite having known a number of women during his life, it seems one
Courtenay did not know well was PM Julia Gillard, who attended his funeral.
The PM, visibly moved, knew the writer only "in passing",
volunteered one mourner: "She came to the funeral because Bryce sought her
out before his death and extracted a promise from her that she would
attend."
Courtenay was persuasive to the end.
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