Kym Bonython: a life from South Australian wealth crammed with wartime air escapades, jazz, art and speed
The multi-faceted Kym Bonython, including speedway driver; jazz musician, promoter and broadcaster; art galleries owner and patron – all captured in his 1979 autobiographt Ladies' Legs and Lemonade.
Kym Bonython, born in 1920 into one of South Australia’s most influential families, crammed a huge amount into one lifetime – or 99 lifetimes, given his daredevil exploits.
The youngest child of John Lavington and Jean Bonython, Kym was named Hugh Reskymer after an ancestor who was Cornwall’s high sheriff in 1619. His father and grandfather, John Langdon Bonython, had edited the daily Adelaide newspaper The Advertiser, controlled by the family until 1929. His father also served as a councillor, alderman, mayor and lord mayor of Adelaide.
Kym Bonython attended Adelaide’s St Peter’s College and entered accountancy, recommended by older half-brother John. World War II interrupted this: in 1940, he began training as a Royal Australian Air Force pilot and served in the (then) Netherlands East Indies and New Guinea, experiencing "death defying" near misses. He was in Darwin hospital (with dengue fever) during the 1942 bombing and evacuated from a ward before it took a direct hit. Bonython was aircraft captain in 1941 and chief flying instructor in 1943. As flight lieutenant, he was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1944 and, as squadron leader in 1946, the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After the war, Bonython took up dairy farming on his father's Mount Pleasant property. In the 1950s, his career changed to focus on music, the arts and motor racing.
As a child. Bonython developed a passion for jazz from a neighbour’s records of Duke Ellington and other jazz greats. At 17, in 1937, he had an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) radio jazz show, broadcast nationally for 38 years. His jazz extended to making and selling music. In 1952, he joined a band as drummer – a skill learned as a child – and he opened his first record store in Bowman's Arcade, King William Street, Adelaide city, in 1954.
Bonython also created a concert promoter, Aztec Services, in the 1950s, and brought to Adelaide jazz greats, including Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. At the urging of his children, he expanded to rock’n’roll, bringing out the likes of Chuck Berry and being a key to negotiating the addition of Adelaide to The Beatles’ 1964 Australian tour.
Another Bonython passion, for art, began in 1945 with works from his mother who bought more traditional Hans Heysen and George Whinnen paintings. In 1961, he opened Bonython (later Bonython Meadmore) art gallery in North Adelaide. His first major exhibition, British Art of the 1960s, had the first work of Francis Bacon shown in Australia. Bonython moved to Sydney to open the Hungry Horse Gallery, Paddington, in 1966 but he returned 10 years later to Adelaide to his original gallery. Bonython's eye for contemporary art saw his galleries promote many Australian and international artists, including Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan, Pro Hart and William Dobell. He is widely acknowledged as discovering and fostering Brett Whiteley.
Bonython's daredevil reputation was enhanced by racing speedcars at Rowley Park Speedway that he leased and promoted 1954-73. Most serious of his many accidents in motor sports was in 1956 when, racing to defend his Australian hydroplane title at Snowdens Beach, his boat crashed. His motor sports achievements including helping to bring Formula 1racing to Adelaide in 1985 and being one of 10 inaugural inductees to the Australian Speedway Hall of Fame.
Bonython served on Adelaide city council and chaired the South Australian Jubilee 150 board. He was also on Adelaide Festive of Arts, Music Vive Australia and Australia Council boards. Bonython was one of Australia's leading monarchists, chairing the No Republic committee. He also actively supported euthanasia and compulsory national service.
