The photo shows me meeting Dr Jane Goodall as she opens our show. The serendipity of this was that she was so impressed with the show, she invited me to her lecture the following night at the Adelaide Town Hall. At the end of the lecture, and in front of a packed house, she asked her 'Roots and Shoots' program volunteers to join her onstage, then she asked Dr Carla Litchfield, the president of the Australasian Primate Society, and Dr Chris West, the Director of the Adelaide and Monarto Zoos and one time director of the London Zoo to join her ................ and then she asked me up on stage too. In front of hundreds of people she then proceeded to tell them that this small group of people on stage were actually doing something to benefit chimps and the world in general and used us as an example of what can be achieved. I was over the moon and some time later am still on a high!!!

 

         

Patrick Hedges was born in Kampala, Uganda, in 1960 and lived for 14 years in and around East Africa. This early childhood instilled in him a love of wildlife and the outdoors. Most weekends were spent camping along the banks of his family's favourite river, or in some gamepark somewhere in the middle of nowhere. His bedroom was always full of live snakes from harmless green tree snakes all the way to cobras and mambas. A couple of large greater plated lizards had the run of the house, as did a zorilla (Africa's version of the skunk), a couple of dogs and a variety of birds such as owls and kites, usually ones which had broken their wings and were brought to his family by their rescuers. A duiker (a small antelope) also shared the garden. What a life!! And what a tolerant mother. Her tolerance was, however, severely tested when one day she went to have a bath, only to find over 40 dwarf toads in it, crawling over each other.

 

In fact, how many mothers would voluntarily go camping for weeks on end in areas where there is no water? Patrick's mum gave birth to the concept known as the 'Suswa Wash', a very elaborate and scientific style of bathing, originated on Mount Suswa, an extinct volcano in Kenya. After a bucket of precious water had been used for everything, including the dishes, the dregs were thrown at your face and 'hey presto', the Suswa Wash. Better than weeks on end with no contact with water at all, I suppose!

 

It wasn't until many years later that he actually started to develop his skills as an artist, but once he did, his core subject matter was always going to be wildlife. Here you can see up to date examples of his wildlife and portrait art.

Patrick moved with his family to England in 1974 after his father died, having received hornet stings on a camping trip they were on, and although he still loves England, it was never home. He never wanted to leave Africa but had no choice. By the age of 26 he was restless and spent the next three years wandering the globe, working a bit here and a bit there, and visiting about 50 countries along the way. The sketch book started to come out during this period.

 

In 1990, he met a lovely young Australian called Gaynor, and they married in 1991 in Adelaide, South Australia, where they both still live with their two children, Brock and Carter.

 

For updates, you can go to Patrick Hedges blog here