Biography
Rafty was born in Paddington, New South Wales, Paddington, New South Wales into a family of Greeks, Greek origin. As a boy he first started drawing caricatures whilst caddying during the Great Depression, Depression. During World War II, Rafty served as a war artist and journalist for the Australian Army, serving in New Guinea, Borneo and Singapore. He sketched the surrender of the Japanese in Singapore, and covered the release of POWs from prison camps, including Batu Lintang camp in Kuching, Sarawak. He completed many sketches of war action including a memorable one of Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Louis Mountbatten. A few years later he covered the Indonesian National Revolution, Indonesian War of Independence, and befriended President Sukarno of Indonesia. His considerable number of works from that era are housed in the National Library of Australia, National Library and the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, with others held at the Imperial War Museum in London. Rafty caricatured politicians, sportspeople, and entertainers. He sketched sportsmen and women at every Olympic Games from 1948 (in London) to 1996 (in Atlanta). His work has been exhibited worldwide and over 15,000 of his caricatures have been featured in newspapers and magazines. In 1981 Rafty became the world's first caricaturist to have subjects appear on national stamps, with caricatures of sportsmen Victor Trumper]Some of his post-war images while a war-correspondent
These images were created while he was employed as a part-timer with The Sun (Sydney), The Sun newspaper as a war-correspondent, and was sent to Borneo and Singapore at the end of the Pacific War when he covered the post-war surrender period.Personal life
Rafty was married to Shirley Morey for 66 years, the daughter of the New South Wales Labor politician Tom Morey (politician), Tom Morey. Shirley died in 2012. They had five children. On 12 October 2005, Rafty celebrated his 90th birthday. He died on 9 October 2015, in an Eastern Suburbs hospital in Sydney, NSW from complications of pneumonia, three days short of his 100th birthday.Further reading
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rafty, Tony 1915 births 2015 deaths Artists from Sydney Australian people of Greek descent Australian caricaturists Australian cartoonists Australian comics artists Australian war artists Australian Army officers Australian Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia World War II artists Jim Russell award winners