Malcolm Fraser

Malcolm Fraser was elected to Government amidst the controversial circumstances of the dismissal, and for some Australians he never shook off the stigma of his role in that event. Pickering’s caricatures of Fraser play on this ‘shadow of the past’.

He parodies him as a wealthy, humourless grazier, with both a ‘born-to-rule’ mentality and a discomfort with leadership. Off the editorial page however, Pickering and Fraser were on good terms. Fraser attended launches of Pickering’s publications, even writing the foreword to one of his books. Fraser appreciated political cartoons, even if he did not always find them accurate. One point of possible contention was Pickering’s habit of drawing Fraser with a pipe – which he didn’t smoke. In acknowledging this artistic licence Pickering presented Fraser with a briar—which, in good humour, Fraser then smoked once a year.

‘Life wasn’t meant to be easy’ for Fraser. Struggling to shake perceptions that he was boring and aloof, and with his striking ‘Easter Island’ face, Fraser was a favourite character of Pryor’s. Caricaturing Fraser to perfection, every detail of his appearance receives attention. Fraser’s considerable height (6 feet 4 inches) dominates the frame replete with large hands and broad shoulders, while ample eyebrows frame deadpan eyes positioned altogether too close to a prominent nose. Pryor enjoys playing with Fraser’s public image as unemotional and unengaging, yet his cartoons reveal something more of the complexity of this, sometimes enigmatic, Prime Minister.

Top: Pickering enjoyed lampooning Malcolm Fraser as lacking panache in leadership.

Bottom: Malcolm Fraser, ‘The Prefect’, tries to sneak out of Treasurer John Howard’s economics lesson.