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This was published 12 years ago
Ettamogah spirit still strong despite pub troubles
By Chris Johnston
PHILLIP ''Worso'' Worsley, mild-mannered accountant, first met cartoonist Ken Maynard of the now defunct Australasian Post magazine in 1972. Maynard was living in Sorrento at the time; the pair were introduced by a mutual friend at the Carlton Hotel in Albury.
''I shook his hand,'' says Worsley, ''and the moment I touched him I knew I had to stick with him.''
Phillip Worsley, friend and muse to Ettamogah Pub creator Ken Maynard. Worsley says his late mate would be 'disgusted' by the controversy surrounding the Ettamogah empire.Credit: Eddie Jim
Worsley only has one eye. The other one lost a battle with a nail when he was 16. He's now 68. ''Call it a blind man's sense,'' he says. ''But when I met Ken I was immediately struck just by being in his presence.''
That first meeting was the start of an intense relationship between the pair until Maynard's death from liver cancer in 1998, aged 70, his legacy as an iconic Australian cartoonist in no doubt.
Yet Maynard's work has been sullied by the sorry saga of his most famous creation, the Ettamogah Pub, which he began drawing in the 1960s as a fictional watering hole for his knockabout Aussie characters. The cartoons became a mainstay of the popular magazine, often seen in barber shops or doctors' waiting rooms.
In the '80s a real Ettamogah Pub was built near Albury, based on Maynard's cartoons, as a tourist attraction and family restaurant. In May this year, it shut amid allegations owner and Melbourne businessman Leigh O'Brien was $9 million in debt.
There are now four Ettamogah Pubs in Australia. A former staff member of the pub is also claiming $30,000 in unpaid wages. One of Mr O'Brien's companies was placed in liquidation over $375,857 in unpaid fees. He has also this year pleaded guilty in court to stalking a former business associate.
Maynard, says ''Worso'' - who lives semi-retired on the banks of the Murray, not far from the boarded-up Ettamogah Pub - would be disgusted. He was a clever, dedicated man, he says, but naive with money and contracts, and often taken for a ride by those eager to cash in on his art. ''He was a true artist,'' says Worsley. ''Couldn't handle money, couldn't be controlled, couldn't be relied on.''
Says Worsley's wife Sandra: ''He had beautiful eyes.''
He was quiet, says Worsley. ''He would look you over.''
As an accountant, Worsley took an interest in Maynard's often wayward financial affairs over the years they were friends. He protected him as best he could from those running the Ettamogah enterprises.
Yet the real bond between them was based on that odd feeling Worsley had when they first met - the feeling that they were close in ways not immediately apparent, that they had a ''spiritual'' connection despite both being men more fond of earthly delights.
It started in 1977 when Maynard drew Worsley for the first time. The artist had become very interested in Worso's fishing stories and most particularly his endless pursuit of Murray Cod. He began ringing him weekly for yarns then drawing the results.
And so it was that the accountant became a hairy, singleted fishing yob in the pages of Australasian Post for 20 years, depicted with hat askew, surrounded by beer cans and fishing detritus.
To Maynard, Worso had become the Australian everyman, the voice of the people.
When Maynard was dying, Worsley often visited him in Brisbane. The last time he saw him he says his mate was looking all right but when they said goodbye, ''his eyes glowed yellow, you wouldn't believe it''.
Worsley flew home but woke suddenly at 5.50am, the exact time Maynard died, with a sensation even stranger than the one that struck him when they first met. ''An angel touched me on the shoulder,'' Worsley says, ''and said 'Ken's gone'.''