WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.480 Welcome everyone to the Deep Dive. We are so 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:05.099 glad to have you joining us today. Absolutely. 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:07.360 It's great to be here. I want you to start by 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:11.679 picturing a scenario in your mind. Just really 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:14.539 imagine this. You're facing a devastating career 00:00:14.539 --> 00:00:17.699 -ending physical trauma right at the end of a 00:00:17.699 --> 00:00:20.980 lifetime of breaking glass ceilings. Right. Imagine 00:00:20.980 --> 00:00:23.879 building an entire career, like an entire identity 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:28.019 around one highly specific physical skill. only 00:00:28.019 --> 00:00:30.199 to lose the ability to do it literally overnight. 00:00:30.820 --> 00:00:33.560 And then instead of giving up, you completely 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:36.490 reinvent how you work. I mean, it's a profound 00:00:36.490 --> 00:00:39.009 premise, and it's exactly the kind of story that 00:00:39.009 --> 00:00:42.030 forces you to look at your own life and ask how 00:00:42.030 --> 00:00:43.929 you might react under that same level of immense 00:00:43.929 --> 00:00:46.890 crushing pressure. Exactly. Today, our topic 00:00:46.890 --> 00:00:49.270 is the life and legacy of Marie Compton Horseman, 00:00:49.350 --> 00:00:51.670 who is universally known as Molly Horseman. She 00:00:51.670 --> 00:00:53.890 was a pioneering Australian comic book artist 00:00:53.890 --> 00:00:56.070 and illustrator and a fashion artist who lived 00:00:56.070 --> 00:01:00.840 from 1911 to 1974. Our source material for this 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:03.859 deep dive is her comprehensive Wikipedia biography. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:07.000 Which is packed with details. It really is. Our 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:10.060 mission today is to track Molly's journey through 00:01:10.060 --> 00:01:12.719 what was a heavily male -dominated industry, 00:01:12.819 --> 00:01:15.200 to look at her profound impact on Australian 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:18.500 pop culture, and ultimately to extract a powerful 00:01:18.500 --> 00:01:21.260 lesson in resilience that you can apply to your 00:01:21.260 --> 00:01:23.769 own life. OK, let's unpack this. I am ready when 00:01:23.769 --> 00:01:25.510 you are, because when you look at the timeline 00:01:25.510 --> 00:01:28.989 of Molly's life, you see someone who never allowed 00:01:28.989 --> 00:01:31.549 her circumstances to dictate her output. She 00:01:31.549 --> 00:01:35.450 was just a master at adapting to massive societal 00:01:35.450 --> 00:01:38.510 shifts and intense personal tragedies. Let's 00:01:38.510 --> 00:01:40.780 start with her early years. Because the geography 00:01:40.780 --> 00:01:43.219 alone is dizzying. Oh, yeah. She was born on 00:01:43.219 --> 00:01:45.540 December 9th, 1911, in a place called Rochester, 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:48.079 Victoria, down in Australia. Her parents were 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:50.540 Frederick Ernest Horsman, a farmer, and Catherine 00:01:50.540 --> 00:01:52.579 Marie Compson, who was a migrant from Yorkshire, 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:54.939 England. So, you know, you might picture this 00:01:54.939 --> 00:01:57.939 quiet, rural, stable upbringing. Right, the classic 00:01:57.939 --> 00:01:59.980 farm life. But that is not what happens at all. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:02.200 Not even close. Her early life was completely 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:05.519 defined by disruption. In 1924, when Molly was 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:08.500 just 13 years old, her parents separated. 13. 00:02:08.780 --> 00:02:11.860 It's such a tough age anyway. It really is. And 00:02:11.860 --> 00:02:14.699 to give you some context on the era, they wouldn't 00:02:14.699 --> 00:02:18.939 officially divorce until October 1933. The social 00:02:18.939 --> 00:02:21.840 stigma and the complex legalities around separation 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:25.280 in the 1920s meant that families often lived 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:28.069 in this prolonged state of limbo. Wow. But for 00:02:28.069 --> 00:02:31.189 Molly, that separation triggered a massive immediate 00:02:31.189 --> 00:02:33.810 upheaval. Whiplash is the only word I can think 00:02:33.810 --> 00:02:35.349 of for it. Yeah. Because they don't just, you 00:02:35.349 --> 00:02:37.969 know, move to the next town over. Molly and her 00:02:37.969 --> 00:02:40.389 mother leave Australia entirely. Where else in 00:02:40.389 --> 00:02:42.129 the world? They travel to England and then they 00:02:42.129 --> 00:02:44.129 relocate to Germany. And the contrast in their 00:02:44.129 --> 00:02:45.969 daily lives over there is what really catches 00:02:45.969 --> 00:02:48.409 my attention from the source. Her mother ends 00:02:48.409 --> 00:02:50.949 up managing a canteen for the British Army. Right. 00:02:51.370 --> 00:02:54.050 While Molly is sent to attend a German finishing 00:02:54.050 --> 00:02:56.990 school. How does a young teenager process that 00:02:56.990 --> 00:03:00.509 kind of contrast? It's a wildly jarring juxtaposition. 00:03:00.509 --> 00:03:03.310 On one hand, you have the utilitarian, rough 00:03:03.310 --> 00:03:05.430 and tumble environment of a military canteen. 00:03:05.469 --> 00:03:08.050 It's practical. It's working class. It's absolute 00:03:08.050 --> 00:03:11.009 survival mode for her newly single mother. And 00:03:11.009 --> 00:03:14.009 on the other hand, you have the highly formalized, 00:03:14.090 --> 00:03:17.210 strict, very polished environment of a European 00:03:17.210 --> 00:03:19.830 finishing school. But think about what that does 00:03:19.830 --> 00:03:22.550 for an artist's eye. Oh, that's true. This unconventional 00:03:22.550 --> 00:03:25.590 education exposed her to a huge variety of social 00:03:25.590 --> 00:03:28.129 classes, languages, and cultures at a highly 00:03:28.129 --> 00:03:31.050 impressionable age. She is learning to observe 00:03:31.050 --> 00:03:33.599 people from all walks of life. That makes a lot 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:35.479 of sense. Yeah. So after all this bouncing around 00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:37.500 Europe, she eventually returns to Australia. 00:03:37.979 --> 00:03:40.659 Does she finally find some stability? Well, she 00:03:40.659 --> 00:03:43.159 finds employment, but in a very unique household. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:45.919 She takes a job working as a governess. Okay. 00:03:45.979 --> 00:03:48.819 But she isn't working for just anyone. She is 00:03:48.819 --> 00:03:50.960 employed by the famous Australian artist Norman 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:53.639 Lindsay and his second wife, Rose, taking care 00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:55.800 of their two daughters. Yeah. And for those who 00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:57.939 might not be deep into Australian art history, 00:03:58.460 --> 00:04:00.460 Norman Lindsay was a massive figure. He was a 00:04:00.460 --> 00:04:03.919 prolific artist, sculptor. or a writer. So she 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.159 is living and working right in the center of 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:09.379 a highly creative, probably very eccentric environment. 00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:12.599 Precisely. And that turns out to be a pivotal 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:16.040 stroke of luck. Lindsay had the artistic eye 00:04:16.040 --> 00:04:19.579 to recognize raw talent. He noticed Molly's drawing 00:04:19.579 --> 00:04:21.399 skills while she was just going about her day 00:04:21.399 --> 00:04:23.920 working in his home. Just sketching in her downtime. 00:04:24.300 --> 00:04:27.399 Exactly. And he strongly recommended that she 00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:29.920 attend the National Arts School. So she gets 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:32.420 this golden recommendation. She enrolls at the 00:04:32.420 --> 00:04:34.980 East Sydney Technical College. But she doesn't 00:04:34.980 --> 00:04:37.620 actually finish, does she? No, she doesn't. Financial 00:04:37.620 --> 00:04:39.939 struggles force her to leave before finishing 00:04:39.939 --> 00:04:42.360 her course. She didn't get to complete her formal 00:04:42.360 --> 00:04:44.980 education or get that official piece of paper. 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:48.019 Man, that's frustrating. It is. However, during 00:04:48.019 --> 00:04:49.980 the brief time she was there, she was heavily 00:04:49.980 --> 00:04:52.500 influenced by the artistic style of another major 00:04:52.500 --> 00:04:55.779 figure, Rainer Hoff. Wait, so she drops out because 00:04:55.779 --> 00:04:58.339 she runs out of money. How common was it back 00:04:58.339 --> 00:05:00.579 then to just push forward into an art career 00:05:00.579 --> 00:05:03.519 without the actual degree, especially for a woman 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:06.180 in the 1920s? It was incredibly difficult. The 00:05:06.180 --> 00:05:08.800 establishment was very gatekept. Dropping out 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:10.740 could have easily been the end of the road for 00:05:10.740 --> 00:05:13.540 her artistic ambitions. But she utilized the 00:05:13.540 --> 00:05:16.500 informal mentorship she had. She absorbed the 00:05:16.500 --> 00:05:18.720 encouragement of Norman Lindsay. She took the 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:21.620 stylistic influence of Rainer Hoff. And she essentially 00:05:21.620 --> 00:05:24.240 built her own foundation. I want you to really 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:26.939 consider that for a second. Think about how often 00:05:26.939 --> 00:05:29.519 we hold ourselves back because we feel we don't 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:31.879 have the right formal credentials. We don't have 00:05:31.879 --> 00:05:34.720 the degree, the certification, the official stamp 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:38.500 of approval. We let that stop us. We do. Molly's 00:05:38.500 --> 00:05:41.160 story asks you to consider how informal mentorship 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:44.699 and real -world exposure often outweigh formal 00:05:44.699 --> 00:05:47.319 credentials when you have raw talent and relentless 00:05:47.319 --> 00:05:50.420 drive. It is a phenomenal lesson in resourcefulness. 00:05:50.699 --> 00:05:53.100 She took what she needed from those brief encounters 00:05:53.100 --> 00:05:55.100 with the art establishment and just moved on. 00:05:55.240 --> 00:05:56.819 And here's where it gets really interesting. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:05:59.600 Because she doesn't just move on. She makes absolute 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:03.199 history. Yes, she does. In 1929, Molly, along 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:05.399 with another artist named Joan Morrison, became 00:06:05.399 --> 00:06:08.259 the first female cartoonist to be hired as permanent 00:06:08.259 --> 00:06:11.079 employees at Smith's Weekly. We really need to 00:06:11.079 --> 00:06:13.660 pause and visualize this. We are talking about 00:06:13.660 --> 00:06:18.560 1929. Breaking into a permanent cartoonist role 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:21.459 at a major publication like Smith's Weekly was 00:06:21.459 --> 00:06:24.079 a massive disruption to the newsroom culture 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:26.850 of that era. Paint that picture for us. You have 00:06:26.850 --> 00:06:29.810 to imagine what a 1920s newsroom sounded and 00:06:29.810 --> 00:06:32.389 smelled like. It was loud. It was filled with 00:06:32.389 --> 00:06:35.350 cigar smoke, clacking typewriters. And it was 00:06:35.350 --> 00:06:38.490 notoriously an absolute boys club. It was a rough, 00:06:38.709 --> 00:06:41.110 highly cynical environment. And remember her 00:06:41.110 --> 00:06:44.370 birth year. She was born in late 1911. That means 00:06:44.370 --> 00:06:46.930 in 1929, when she is breaking this massive glass 00:06:46.930 --> 00:06:49.550 ceiling in a tough -as -nails newsroom, she's 00:06:49.550 --> 00:06:52.529 only 17 or 18 years old. It's staggering. How 00:06:52.529 --> 00:06:54.290 does a teenager even hold her ground in that 00:06:54.290 --> 00:06:57.790 room? By being undeniably good at her job. For 00:06:57.790 --> 00:07:00.290 two women to secure permanent roles as cartoonists 00:07:00.290 --> 00:07:02.709 wasn't just a fun career win. It was a structural 00:07:02.709 --> 00:07:04.970 shift in who was allowed to comment on the culture. 00:07:05.209 --> 00:07:07.269 Yeah. But while her professional life is breaking 00:07:07.269 --> 00:07:09.370 all these boundaries, her personal life is becoming 00:07:09.370 --> 00:07:11.689 incredibly complex. Right. I was reading through 00:07:11.689 --> 00:07:14.069 the timeline of her personal life in the source 00:07:14.069 --> 00:07:17.170 material, and it is a complete whirlwind. To 00:07:17.170 --> 00:07:20.050 put her output into perspective, the 1930s and 00:07:20.050 --> 00:07:22.990 40s were just a chaotic era for her personally. 00:07:23.149 --> 00:07:25.589 Very much so. Across a little over a decade, 00:07:25.790 --> 00:07:28.420 she navigates. Two marriages and two divorces. 00:07:28.939 --> 00:07:32.779 First to William Longford Power, who was an articled 00:07:32.779 --> 00:07:35.339 clerk, which is essentially a lawyer in training 00:07:35.339 --> 00:07:37.339 doing an apprenticeship. Right. And then later 00:07:37.339 --> 00:07:39.439 to Nelson Illingworth, the grandson of a well 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:41.839 -known sculptor. And between these two marriages, 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:44.199 she ends up having five children. Yes. One son 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:46.079 from her first marriage and then another son 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:48.879 and three daughters from her second. So she is 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:51.970 raising five children. navigating divorces, and 00:07:51.970 --> 00:07:54.149 eventually moving the family up to Brisbane in 00:07:54.149 --> 00:07:57.610 the early 1940s. And yet, amidst all that domestic 00:07:57.610 --> 00:08:00.629 chaos and the immense mental load of single motherhood 00:08:00.629 --> 00:08:03.930 in the 1940s, her professional output doesn't 00:08:03.930 --> 00:08:07.040 slow down. It actually accelerates. That is the 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:09.519 hustle that defines her middle career. She is 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:12.040 freelancing extensively to keep a roof over her 00:08:12.040 --> 00:08:15.079 family's head. She has to. Exactly. She isn't 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:16.779 just an artist sitting in a studio waiting for 00:08:16.779 --> 00:08:20.240 inspiration. She is a working professional putting 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:23.279 food on the table. She is drawing comic strips 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:25.980 for Frank Johnson publications. She's contributing 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:28.759 cartoons to Man Magazine, to the Australian Woman's 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:31.339 Mirror, and even to Ridge's Business Journal, 00:08:31.480 --> 00:08:33.419 where she created a popular comic called The 00:08:33.419 --> 00:08:35.980 Tipple Twins. That is such a wild spread of audiences. 00:08:36.259 --> 00:08:38.899 She's drawing for a men's magazine, a women's 00:08:38.899 --> 00:08:41.399 domestic magazine, and a dry business journal 00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:44.379 all at the same exact time. It shows her incredible 00:08:44.379 --> 00:08:47.320 adaptability. She could shift her tone, her style, 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:50.000 and her humor to fit whatever duplication was 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.620 cutting the check that month. So she has mastered 00:08:52.620 --> 00:08:55.919 the daily grind. She can write for anyone. But 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:58.519 then we hit 1946, and she takes on a role at 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:00.620 the Courier Mail. at their Sydney production 00:09:00.620 --> 00:09:03.000 unit. Right. And this leads to a transition that 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:05.539 introduces both profound tragedy and the biggest 00:09:05.539 --> 00:09:07.980 opportunity of her career. This is a highly sensitive 00:09:07.980 --> 00:09:10.100 juncture. There was another cartoonist working 00:09:10.100 --> 00:09:13.220 there named Gene Cullen. Tragically, Gene Cullen 00:09:13.220 --> 00:09:16.059 died by suicide. It's awful. It was a terrible, 00:09:16.059 --> 00:09:19.039 shocking loss for the publication and for the 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:21.679 tight -knit cartooning community. It is an incredibly 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:24.679 heavy situation to walk into. Following Colin's 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:27.179 death, Molly steps in and takes responsibility 00:09:27.179 --> 00:09:30.080 for Colin's new comic strip called Pam, which 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:32.259 ran in the Sunday Mail. She also takes over a 00:09:32.259 --> 00:09:34.519 strip called The Clothes Horse in the Sydney 00:09:34.519 --> 00:09:36.840 Morning Herald. What's fascinating here is the 00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:39.919 delicate psychological balance she had to strike. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:42.899 She was taking over the creative property of 00:09:42.899 --> 00:09:45.840 a deceased colleague. That requires an immense 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:48.899 amount of respect, tact, and empathy. Because 00:09:48.899 --> 00:09:50.799 everyone knows. Right. The readers know what 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:52.889 happened. The editors know what happened. But 00:09:52.889 --> 00:09:55.370 she also had to make the work her own in order 00:09:55.370 --> 00:09:58.029 for it to survive long term. Think about the 00:09:58.029 --> 00:10:01.529 pressure of that. For a modern analogy, it is 00:10:01.529 --> 00:10:03.830 like being asked to take over as the lead writer 00:10:03.830 --> 00:10:06.529 and showrunner on a hit television show under 00:10:06.529 --> 00:10:09.610 the most tragic circumstances imaginable. The 00:10:09.610 --> 00:10:12.029 fans are grieving, the network needs the show 00:10:12.029 --> 00:10:14.549 to go on to sell advertising, and you have to 00:10:14.549 --> 00:10:17.250 somehow honor the original creator's voice while 00:10:17.250 --> 00:10:18.990 steering the ship forward with your own ideas. 00:10:19.580 --> 00:10:21.740 And she didn't just steer the ship. She turned 00:10:21.740 --> 00:10:25.419 it into an absolute powerhouse. Pam became Molly's 00:10:25.419 --> 00:10:28.200 best known, most famous work. It didn't just 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:31.139 survive the transition. It thrived. It ran for 00:10:31.139 --> 00:10:34.700 over 11 years and became widely syndicated. She 00:10:34.700 --> 00:10:37.440 honored Cullen's creation while making it a defining 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:40.360 pillar of her own career for over a decade. OK, 00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:42.779 so she masters the syndicated comic strip. She 00:10:42.779 --> 00:10:45.179 honors her colleagues legacy and she enters her 00:10:45.179 --> 00:10:48.450 career. But as we move into the late 1950s and 00:10:48.450 --> 00:10:51.429 the swinging 60s, the culture starts to shift 00:10:51.429 --> 00:10:54.610 dramatically around her. It really does. In 1957, 00:10:54.850 --> 00:10:56.889 she moves to Avalon, which is this beautiful 00:10:56.889 --> 00:10:59.350 northern beach suburb of Sydney with her five 00:10:59.350 --> 00:11:02.370 kids. And her work takes this brilliantly subversive 00:11:02.370 --> 00:11:05.629 turn. Yes. The 1960s bring out a whole new side 00:11:05.629 --> 00:11:08.269 of Molly. She starts contributing heavily to 00:11:08.269 --> 00:11:10.929 a magazine called Everybody's. But what is particularly 00:11:10.929 --> 00:11:13.450 interesting is that she often published anonymously 00:11:13.450 --> 00:11:16.519 where she used a pen name. Vanessa. I am obsessed 00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:18.600 with the Vanessa era. It's great. Because under 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:21.799 this alter ego, she is doing these weekly full 00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:24.960 page color cartoons centered around a sexy man 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:28.100 type. And then in 1964, she does a serial called 00:11:28.100 --> 00:11:31.679 Girl Crusoe. The source notes this was a direct 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:35.019 pointed parody of the Good Girl Cheesecake comics 00:11:35.019 --> 00:11:38.220 that were wildly popular at the time. connect 00:11:38.220 --> 00:11:40.360 this to the bigger picture, you can see how actively 00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:42.299 she was playing with the gender tropes of the 00:11:42.299 --> 00:11:44.740 1960s. For listeners who might not be familiar, 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:46.860 cheesecake art was everywhere back then. It really 00:11:46.860 --> 00:11:50.120 was. It consisted of highly idealized, often 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:52.539 objectified drawings of scantily clad women, 00:11:52.759 --> 00:11:55.659 usually in mildly perilous or clumsy situations. 00:11:56.139 --> 00:11:59.059 It was created almost entirely by male artists 00:11:59.059 --> 00:12:01.200 for a male audience. Right. It's a definition 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:03.820 of the male gaze in comic form. Exactly. And 00:12:03.820 --> 00:12:06.340 Molly flips the script completely. She parodies 00:12:06.340 --> 00:12:14.809 the cheesecake genre. She turns it right back 00:12:14.809 --> 00:12:25.570 around on them. It is so sharp and so modern. 00:12:25.669 --> 00:12:28.309 She is trolling the industry from the inside. 00:12:28.669 --> 00:12:31.529 And her dominance in this space was so absolute 00:12:31.529 --> 00:12:35.600 that in 1963, everybody's magazine published 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:38.799 a piece hailing her as Australia's only woman 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:41.100 cartoonist. Which is a revealing detail because 00:12:41.100 --> 00:12:43.320 technically that statement was inaccurate. She 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:45.500 wasn't the only woman cartoonist in the country. 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:47.899 So why would a major magazine print that? It 00:12:47.899 --> 00:12:49.519 tells you two critical things about the era. 00:12:49.700 --> 00:12:51.919 First, it highlights just how isolated women 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:54.519 still were in this field. Decades after she broke 00:12:54.519 --> 00:12:57.279 into that newsroom in 1929, the industry was 00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:59.720 still so male -dominated that an editor could 00:12:59.720 --> 00:13:01.759 plausibly believe she was the only woman doing 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:04.840 it. That's wild. And second, it proves that she 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:07.480 so completely dominated the space that in the 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:09.580 public imagination, she was practically the only 00:13:09.580 --> 00:13:11.139 one who mattered. She was the gold standard. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:13.960 She really was. But as we move into the final 00:13:13.960 --> 00:13:16.600 segment of her life, the story takes a turn that 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:19.820 requires an unimaginable level of grit. In the 00:13:19.820 --> 00:13:22.639 late 60s, she moves back to Brisbane. Yes, between 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:26.600 1967 and 1969, she shifts gears a bit. She moves 00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:28.840 away from the weekly magazine grind and focuses 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:31.440 on illustrating books for Jacaranda Press. A 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:33.299 different pace entirely. She works on titles 00:13:33.299 --> 00:13:36.299 like The Lost Boomerang, Let Us Read Bee, and 00:13:36.299 --> 00:13:40.740 The Magic Car. Notably, in 1970, she illustrated 00:13:40.740 --> 00:13:43.759 Kath Walker's book My People, which is a very 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:46.440 significant piece of Australian literary history. 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:49.299 After her time in Brisbane, she moves to the 00:13:49.299 --> 00:13:52.379 Blue Mountains in New South Wales. The plan seems 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:55.019 to be to continue her freelance work at a slower 00:13:55.019 --> 00:13:58.679 pace and to paint landscapes. It sounds idyllic, 00:13:58.679 --> 00:14:00.460 right? It sounds like exactly what she deserved. 00:14:00.820 --> 00:14:03.980 A well -earned, peaceful chapter for a woman 00:14:03.980 --> 00:14:05.879 who has been working relentlessly to support 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:08.899 her family for over four decades. But then, in 00:14:08.899 --> 00:14:12.539 1973, disaster strikes. Molly is hit by a car. 00:14:12.779 --> 00:14:15.419 The injuries from the accident were severe, and 00:14:15.419 --> 00:14:17.519 the physical trauma of the event led to a stroke. 00:14:18.090 --> 00:14:20.289 Now, a stroke is devastating in any circumstance, 00:14:20.529 --> 00:14:23.129 but for Molly, it had a highly specific, cruel 00:14:23.129 --> 00:14:25.450 consequence. It completely paralyzed her right 00:14:25.450 --> 00:14:27.590 hand, her drawing hand. So what does this all 00:14:27.590 --> 00:14:29.529 mean? I want you to really put yourself in her 00:14:29.529 --> 00:14:31.250 shoes for a moment. Think about your greatest 00:14:31.250 --> 00:14:33.070 skill, the thing you've got your entire life 00:14:33.070 --> 00:14:34.889 around, the thing that gives you your identity 00:14:34.889 --> 00:14:36.610 and puts a roof over your head. Everything you 00:14:36.610 --> 00:14:39.149 know. Now, imagine losing the physical ability 00:14:39.149 --> 00:14:42.870 to do it overnight at the age of 61, to look 00:14:42.870 --> 00:14:45.570 at your dominant hand and realize it simply won't 00:14:45.570 --> 00:14:48.580 respond anymore. Would you have the grit to start 00:14:48.580 --> 00:14:51.820 from scratch the next day? Because that is exactly 00:14:51.820 --> 00:14:54.980 what Molly did. It is almost impossible to overstate 00:14:54.980 --> 00:14:57.379 the psychological hurdle of that moment. The 00:14:57.379 --> 00:14:59.820 identity crisis of an artist losing their medium 00:14:59.820 --> 00:15:02.840 is profound. Instead of retiring, instead of 00:15:02.840 --> 00:15:05.779 accepting that her career was over, she painstakingly 00:15:05.779 --> 00:15:08.139 taught herself to draw all over again. Gives 00:15:08.139 --> 00:15:11.690 me chills. She rewired her brain at age 61. to 00:15:11.690 --> 00:15:14.529 draw with her non -dominant left hand. The mechanics 00:15:14.529 --> 00:15:17.210 of that are staggering. To have the visual mastery 00:15:17.210 --> 00:15:20.370 in your mind, but have to train a clumsy, untrained 00:15:20.370 --> 00:15:22.850 hand to execute those precise lines all over 00:15:22.850 --> 00:15:25.110 again, the frustration must have been immense. 00:15:25.509 --> 00:15:28.250 It is the ultimate testament to her unyielding 00:15:28.250 --> 00:15:31.070 creative drive. For Molly, drawing wasn't just 00:15:31.070 --> 00:15:33.889 a career or a job title. It was a fundamental 00:15:33.889 --> 00:15:36.669 way of existing in the world. To stop drawing 00:15:36.669 --> 00:15:39.450 meant to stop living. She simply refused to let 00:15:39.450 --> 00:15:41.389 the physical limitations of her body dictate 00:15:41.389 --> 00:15:44.409 the end of her creative output. It is awe -inspiring. 00:15:44.830 --> 00:15:47.529 She managed to keep creating until her body simply 00:15:47.529 --> 00:15:51.750 gave out. Molly died on May 7, 1974, at the age 00:15:51.750 --> 00:15:54.529 of 62, in the Blue Mountains Hospital in Katoomba. 00:15:54.769 --> 00:15:57.590 She is buried at St. Thomas' Church in Mulgoa. 00:15:57.929 --> 00:16:00.450 Her output right up to the very end is a monument 00:16:00.450 --> 00:16:03.309 to resilience. She left behind a legacy that 00:16:03.309 --> 00:16:05.110 is stitched into the very fabric of Australian 00:16:05.110 --> 00:16:07.610 illustration and comic history. Which brings 00:16:07.610 --> 00:16:10.429 us to the end of our deep dive today. We have 00:16:10.429 --> 00:16:12.570 tracked a life that is almost too big for just 00:16:12.570 --> 00:16:15.899 one sitting. Molly Horseman survived a geographically 00:16:15.899 --> 00:16:18.679 chaotic teenagehood. She shattered the glass 00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:20.720 ceiling of a male -dominated newsroom at just 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:23.659 18 years old. She navigated the immense challenges 00:16:23.659 --> 00:16:25.960 of single motherhood with five children while 00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:28.820 outworking everyone around her, and she overcame 00:16:28.820 --> 00:16:30.980 a devastating physical trauma to keep her art 00:16:30.980 --> 00:16:34.100 alive. She left behind a massive, enduring legacy. 00:16:34.379 --> 00:16:36.379 Thank you so much for joining us to explore her 00:16:36.379 --> 00:16:38.679 story. This raises an important question, though. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:41.019 Molly Horseman shaped the visual culture of Australia 00:16:41.019 --> 00:16:44.059 for decades. Her comic strips were read by millions, 00:16:44.179 --> 00:16:46.480 her illustrations graced magazines and books. 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:49.440 Yet her name isn't widely known outside of specific 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:52.039 art history circles. Very true. I want you to 00:16:52.039 --> 00:16:55.299 ponder something. How much of our daily pop culture, 00:16:55.460 --> 00:16:58.580 the comics we read, the tropes we enjoy, the 00:16:58.580 --> 00:17:01.820 visual shorthand we take for granted? was quietly 00:17:01.820 --> 00:17:04.700 built by women working under pseudonyms or stepping 00:17:04.700 --> 00:17:08.059 into the void left by others. Women whose names 00:17:08.059 --> 00:17:10.339 have been slowly erased by time because they 00:17:10.339 --> 00:17:12.559 didn't fit the traditional narrative of the solitary 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:15.480 male genius. What other hidden architects of 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:17.619 our culture are waiting in the archives to be 00:17:17.619 --> 00:17:19.839 rediscovered? That is a brilliant thought to 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:22.000 end on. A huge thank you to all of you for listening. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:24.180 We hope this story inspires you to look a little 00:17:24.180 --> 00:17:26.140 closer at the art you consume and the names behind 00:17:26.140 --> 00:17:29.440 it. Keep exploring, stay curious, and as always, 00:17:29.539 --> 00:17:31.319 keep diving deep. See you next time.