Australian Cartoonists Association › Maxwell (Max) Charles Serle Foley

Born Drummoyne, New South Wales 1944
Died Woy Woy, New South Wales 26 August 2022

By Lindsay Foyle

Foley was a newspaper press artist, cartoonist, illustrator and a commercial artist, who signed his work Max Foley, M. F. or just MF. He thought Australian comic strip artists were always at a financial disadvantage when trying to sell their work to Australian newspaper publishers, as they could acquire cheaper syndicated comics from America. Underpayment for the work required to draw comic strips was one of the reasons he stopped drawing them. It was also the reason, he did not seek to take on the job of drawing Ginger Meggs after the death Lloyd Piper in September 1983. The job went to James Kemsley.

He was born in the Sydney suburb of Drummoyne. Towards the end of the Second World War his father was killed by a falling tree while serving in the Australian army, leaving his mother to bring him up on her own. Max was still a small boy when he started drawing comics and spent his lunch money on comic books. He hid them from his mother in the attic, reading them by candle light before she returned home from work. After missing his footing and falling through the ceiling she allowed him to read them in his bedroom.

After leaving Fort Street High School he spent two years as a copyboy on The Sydney Morning Herald and in the Fairfax art department. Foley started his cadetship in the Fairfax art department working on the afternoon newspaper The Sun while attending East Sydney Technical Collage for four years. He studied a night and one afternoon a week as cadet artists were given time off for art classes.

Foley always had a relaxed causal approach to life and was happy to talk with anyone. While still a copy boy working in the Fairfax art department, he didn’t think twice when innocently offering advice to one of the senior artists on how to improve his drawing of a cartoon. His suggestion was not well received and he was told where to go by an indignant artist.

He left Fairfax in 1968 to work for a firm which manufactured flameproof electrical switches. After the business burnt down he freelanced as a cartoonist for a short time. Failing to make a fortune he next spent a little time working for a printery as an artist before returning to Fairfax. Back at Fairfax he worked mainly as a newspaper artist, but also drew political and gag cartoons.

In his own time, he drew the comic Cindy in 1970 for People magazine. It was a bit risqué and was originally titled Chesty Blond. Worried about a possible copyright infringement of Chest Bond, Cindy was chosen as a safer option. While still drawing Cindy he took on a new strip, Max and Min: The Weather People for The Sun-Herald. It first appeared on October 4, 1970. The two main characters lived in the town of Weatherby and their names were a play on the words ‘maximum’ and ‘minimum’. In 1974, after 300 episodes to comic came to an end. In 1978 he drew Tibby the Lion, for The Sun-Herald.

Foley was an active member of the Black and White Artists’ Club (now known as the Australian Cartoonists Association) and president in 1983. In 1985 he was appointed head artist on The Sun. The paper closed in 1988 and Foley moved to News Limited to work as a press artist.

He was 'smocked’ in 1993.

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