By Roger Childs
I think of how fortunate I was to be born in this country at this time. –Garrick Tremain
Over 25 years ago I went to hear a panel of cartoonists at the National Library. Among others, Tom Scott and Garrick Tremain were on it. The Tremains lived near Lake Wakatipu and Garrick used a fax machine to send his cartoons to the Otago Daily Times (ODT). He told the story that one summer’s day he was working in the front garden on his latest effort when his small daughter said to her mother:
Can I go and play with Daddy?
No dear he’s busy
What’s he doing?
Trying to bring down the government.
Running foul of newspaper editors
Throughout history most editors have known that the daily cartoon can help sell their papers. New Zealand’s greatest cartoonist, the liberal David Low, worked for Lord Beaverbrook’s conservative Daily Express. Low’s brilliant anti-fascist cartoons in the 1930s and 1940s were world famous, and Beaverbrook always printed them knowing that most of his customers would look at the cartoon first before reading anything else in the paper. Low greatest cartoon is probably RENDEZ-VOUS.
Tom Scott tells the story of having one of his cartoons rejected by the editor ofThe Dominion. He told him ‘my income is much higher than your salary, so Print it or I’m off.‘
Cartoons are not designed to keep editors, politicians and the public happy. Tremain, like The Australian’s legendary Bill Leak, and Kiwi Bob Brockie, was absolutely fearless and didn’t care what people thought of his cartoons.
Measles in Samoa
A cartoon linked to what was happening in Samoa drew a lot of criticism and the ODT apologized and sacked Tremain. Garrick continued to draw very pointed cartoons weekly and sent them round the countrywhere they featured on websites like Waikanae Watch, Bassett, Brash and Hyde and for the New Zealand Centre for Political Research.
Tremain died of cancer late last month at the age of 84. The country has lost a huge talent and the legacy mainstream media at least has acknowledged the passing of the great man.
WW reposted many of his cartoons critical of the awful Jacinda regime; put ‘Garrick Tremain’ in the search box..
Tremain was the best I was fairly pissed off as many were when the ODT sacked him.
A correction – Garrick wasn’t sacked, in his memoir he is quite clear that he chose to finish with the ODT.
A great New Zealander.
His recent interviews with Sean Plunket are a wonderful insight into the courage, integrity and humour of this multi talented man.