Type

Keith McGowan

Tony Fawcett of the Herald Sun teamed with photographer Chris Groenhout to present this story on Keith McGowan.

Reproduced courtesy of the Home Guide - Page 39, May 22, 2004

Click here to see an enlargement of this photo

'This radio personality is wired for sound and a collector at heart'

Occupation: Radio personality

Born: Melbourne

Educated: Box Hill Technical School and Glenhuntly and Balwyn State Schools

Career Highlights: Working the midnight to dawn shift on 3AW for the past 15 years

Inside Story

1. Character Jugs

They're limited edition Flambe jugs from Royal Doulton. They're Pharaoh, Confucius and The Genie. It's a complete set I bought in England. They're early 1990s and beautifully made with wonderful detail. I love old and interesting things. I'm a registered secondhand dealer, and I still have a little place in High Street. A few years ago I was in it in a big way with another person. But these days people seem to be buying everything on the Internet.

2. Vase

This is very special, as modern as tomorrow. I was advised to buy it by Marvin Hurnall, the gun man on Australian pottery. I told him I wanted to buy some Australian pottery, as a good investment, but something I also liked. This piece is by Janet Lee Korakas, who works in Middle Park. It's magnificent. I had a tiny element of doubt when I brought it home, but have absolutely fallen in love with it.

3. Noddy

I like buying Noddy pieces. Some of my favourites are the rubberised ones. You can never find them with the bell in Noddy's hat now, and if you do, they are usually torn or the tops are gone because children have ripped the bell out. I have three or four of them. I like Noddy. I read the books when I was young and think it's cruel how they have politicised Noddy, altered him, made him politically correct. When I see something I have to buy it. And because of that I have no money; I'm poor. The worst thing I buy is cars. I'm impulsive about them. I drive a Ford XR6 at the moment. It's the second one of the series I've had.

4. Bear

It's a Steiff bear, from Germany. It is a limited edition and was only available from Harrods, in London. I have several bears, I guess because I never had one when I was a child. My grandchildren love playing with them. I have a daughter, Tania, and son Nathan - he's the racing manager and chief handicapper for Racing Victoria - and four grandchildren. They add another dimension to life, and I can't see enough of them. I would love to float down the Murray with them, drive through the centre of Australia, all that sort of stuff. I might one day, if they're interested.

5. Table

This is a beautiful piece, made so well. The top is two pieces, but you can't find the join. It's jarrah from Western Australia. I found this wonderful craftsman on the Murray, a top redgum worker named Robert Pate, from Shepparton, who makes them. I have three of his pieces. One day I hope to have a lovely collection of cabinets and a table, and more chairs. Robert has made some pieces for my daughter, too, including a chest of drawers.

6. Toy crane

It's a KL 44 Tri-ang crane. Our family's belief, although it's not confirmed because my Dad is dead, and Mum can't remember, is that it was sent me when I was six by an English family we had sent food parcels to during World War II. What I remember is unwrapping it from inside a wooden box in which it had been packed with straw.

7. Cup and winning photo

Apart from my children and my grandchildren, the horses are most important to me. I don't have many now. I sold one to America and he won his first three races over there, but now he's lost three. This is Dick Swiveller, named after the Charles Dickens character. He was the fastest race-winning three-year-old pacer in Australia this year. He's had 31 starts for 11 wins, 10 seconds and a couple of thirds. I bred him out of my mare who subsequently died.

8. Tapestry

It's Italian-made, a reproduction of a famous old tapestry. I look at it all the time, and I can see pictures within pictures. One day I might look at the people one one of the boats or those people towing a boat in. But, it takes up so much space. I'm a mad collector. Sooner or later I will have a place up on the Murray River, and these things will be set up properly. I'll have everything that means something around me.

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