Dr Ken Gardiner

Portrait Anecdotes
by Heide Smith

The Sitting

I best remember Dr. Ken Gardiner standing in the rain, reading poetry out aloud during a Canberra Festival in the park near Nerang pool. And despite the weather there were plenty of people listening. This portrait of the poet and Doctor of Oriental History, together with his wife Merril and daughter Morgan, was however shot in 1994 in my Braddon Studio, as part of my collection of ‘THE CANBERRANS’. I used Studio lights and kept the background dark to isolate the family. The main light is on Dr.Gardiner and a spotlight from the rear picks out mother and daughter. Merril, a poet in her own right is deaf, but communicates perfectly well. Morgan was two years old when this photograph was taken, and is now a beautiful 11 year old. Dr Gardiner’s sympathy for Tibet, plain for all to see on his shirt pocket, has prevented him from traveling to China, despite being a senior lecturer in Chinese History at ANU. I usually let the background drop out of focus, but in this case, because mother and daughter are an important ingredient, and because they are not looking into the camera, I feel that they add a special interest to this portrait.

The Sitter

“ A journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step” is an old Chinese proverb, and it was perhaps a single step into a second hand bookshop, taken by his Auntie “Tiny” ( who was actually a rather large person), that began Ken Gardiner’s magical journey. Auntie Tiny left the bookshop with a gift for her nephew, a children’s version of Indian stories. The book, together with tales of fighting in Afghanistan and Burma, where his grandfather had served as a soldier in the British army, created a fascination in Ken for all things Indian.

Ken began life in the East End of London in 1932, the son of a cabinet maker, living in a house which was described in another article, as having “a wonderful view of the gasworks”. As luck would have it, by the time he left school in 1950, the Labour Government of Clement Atlee had introduced scholarships for working class students, one of which was awarded to Ken to attend the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University, resulting in a degree in Indian History. Following two years National Service, he returned to university to study Chinese History; the subject of his doctoral thesis being Korean History, which few if any other western scholar had attempted. Dr Gardiner had found Classical Chinese much easier to learn than Sanskrit, the language needed to study Indian History, and as Classical Chinese was the official written language of Vietnam, Korea, Japan and China until 1912, it was natural that his interests would gravitate towards these countries. In 1959 he gained a two year scholarship

Dr Ken Gardiner with wife Merril and daughter Morgan

The Sitter continued

to study in Japan, where he married his Japanese wife Moko in 1960. They both returned to the UK where they had their first child, Helen. Finding that there was little demand for his skills in England, Ken and his family returned to Japan, via the Soviet Union in 1964, where their second child Kai was born. In Japan, Dr Gardiner taught English Literature, so when he heard from a former teacher A.L.Basham in 1966, that a position as a junior lecturer in Chinese History was available at the Australian National University, he had no hesitation in applying for the position. Soon after, their third child Edwin was born in 1967 in Canberra; three children born in three different countries! Interestingly, Ken has chosen not to visit China, despite a number of invitations, because of his support for
his Holiness the Dalai Lama, and his opposition to the policies of the Government of China in regard to Tibet.

Dr Gardiner was to remain at ANU for twenty six years, retiring as Senior Lecturer. In 1969, ANU had published his book “The Early History of Korea”, a copy of which is now held in the British

Museum. During this period Ken’s marriage broke up but he remarried; Merril and Ken’s first child Morgan was born in 1992, the year of his retirement.

Dr Gardiner’s other great love is poetry, which he has written since his youth in England, and retirement has given him the time to indulge his passion. Merril shares his interest in literature, and the couple made a pact that Merril would write short stories and that he would write poetry to prevent any professional rivalry! However, after Merril attended a poetry workshop in 1988, there was no stopping her, and Ken has had to put up with sharing life with another poet! Both have had their work published.

The latest step in Ken’s remarkable journey, will be marked on December 4th by the launch of his new book “Familiar Distances”, containing forty of his poems, and with a painting by Edwin, his son, on the cover.

Any questions ?