Wendy Whiteley

Wendy Susan Whiteley (; born 1941) is best known as the former wife of the Australian artist Brett Whiteley, and as the mother of their daughter, actress Arkie Whiteley (1964–2001). She has become a notable cultural figure, particularly since her ex-husband's death in 1992. She posed for Brett many times. Although they divorced three years before he died, she has control of Brett Whiteley's estate including the copyright to his works. She played an important role in the establishment of the Brett Whiteley Studio in Surry Hills, New South Wales which is now owned and managed as an art museum by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Wendy Whiteley is also known for the restoration and landscaping of derelict railway land in Lavender Bay, Sydney, which she turned into a "magic garden" and where her ex-husband Brett and daughter Arkie Whiteley's ashes were scattered. Background and early years Wendy Susan Julius was born in Sydney in 1941, the elder of two daughters. She came from a creative lineage. Her great-grandfather was Charles Yelverton O'Connor, engineer for Fremantle Harbour and the Kalgoorlie Pipeline, who committed suicide ten months before the pipeline was opened. Her grandfather was Sir George Julius, the inventor of the totalisator and co-founder of the CSIRO. A great-aunt, Kate O'Connor, was a painter who lived in Paris most of her life. Her father, George Yelverton Julius, known as "Gentleman George", was thrown out by her mother for infidelity when Wendy was six and she and her sister have little or no memory of him. When Wendy was about 12, she was devastated to read in the newspapers that her father had been sent to prison for eight years for burglary. Her mother later remarried and had two more children.