FEATURE - The Adventurous Artist

A chance meeting with a German sculptor in Botswana in the 1970s turned artist Robyn Muche’s world into a rewarding lifetime imbued with animals, art and adventure.

by Judy Fredriksen

Growing up in Sydney, Robyn frequently visited Taronga Park Zoo which was not far from her home. She loved the animals and dreamed of someday going to Africa. 

Bestowed with creative talent, she studied art after leaving school. Her first job was as an artist and animator, meticulously hand-painting animated movies for film and television before the days of digitisation. But before long, another opportunity arose, and Robyn jumped at it. 

“I went to work for the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Sydney. It was based at the Sydney University, and I worked for a vet called Dr George Wilson – I was a technical assistant.

“George was doing a study on red kangaroos, and we would go out to Cameron’s Corner.

We would, with university students, catch red kangaroos, and take all their statistics and release them.”

Robyn’s involvement saw her drawing maps and graphs and learning how to identify the age of certain kangaroos, as well as looking after kangaroo joeys.  

This only deepened her desire to visit Africa, so she wrote to various organisations in Africa, seeking work. 

Eventually, “I just decided to go there,” she says. “I had saved up and had a few contacts and I started off working in a game reserve in Eastern Transvaal called Mala Mala. I did some paintings of birds for them, and some maps.”

She also acted as a wildlife tour guide, pointing out and describing the native animals to any guests at the lodge. A keen photographer, Robyn was mesmerised by the animals and the experience:

“… seeing them in the wild was a completely different thing (to a zoo) with their wild spirit. And seeing impala jumping just like a waterfall fountain, you know, animals in their own environment and in a functioning ecosystem … it gives me goosebumps.”

Soon she ventured further into the wilds when she accepted a job in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana.  

“Botswana was a very wild place, there was only one tarred road in the whole country, but (it was) very dynamic. I painted dioramas of the Kalahari, and the Bushmen, and little mongeese, lions. Then we’d go out and do field trips.”

It was while she was working at the Botswana Museum of Natural History and National Art Gallery that she met Bodo Muche, a German sculptor. He was a friend of the museum’s director and had a forceful presence. 

Bodo also had a fascination with renowned German explorer and naturist – Ludwig Leichhardt – who explored much of northern and central Australia, and even Maleny. Leichhardt and Bodo had both grown up in small towns near Dresden. 

By 1978, Bodo and Robyn had married and had come to live at Colinton, in the Brisbane Valley. They bought a farm and established a sculpting studio in nearby Toogoolawah. Combining their artistic talents, they produced countless bronze sculptures depicting Australian animals and other subjects. 

The location was an easy choice for the couple – the red deer that roamed the area reminded Bodo of his hometown. Also, the area had been one of Leichhardt’s haunts and while there, he had identified and named several insect species. 

“He (Leichhardt) spent quite a lot of time in South-East Queensland. He went up through the Brisbane River Valley and wherever he went, for example, in Cressbrook, he’d always be looking for something in nature to apply to agriculture or rural benefit,” explains Robyn.

Then around 2012, Bodo discovered that Leichhardt’s diaries (in German) were housed in the John Oxley Library, Brisbane. Voraciously he read them all and discovered that Leichhardt had visited Postman’s Track near Bellthorpe. 

According to local history records, in 1843 Leichhardt travelled with the Archer Brothers who pioneered and settled Durundur pastoral station near Woodford. 

Robyn believes Leichhardt was curious about the Aboriginal bunya feasts – which were held in the Baroon Pocket – and ventured up the mountain to gather information about those. 

Robyn goes on to recall that one of the proudest moments of their lives was meeting Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, who were visiting for Brisbane’s Expo 88.

“They admired our bronze sculpture of the ‘Merino Ewe and Lamb’ at the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre.” Later, Her Majesty received a maquette of that sculpture. 

Robyn’s artwork and sculptures have since been displayed interstate and overseas. 

Sadly for Robyn, her beloved Bodo passed away in 2017, after which time she helped transform the old condensed milk factory in Toogoolawah into the modern Somerset Regional Art Gallery. Today, a life-sized bronze statue of a red deer stands outside that gallery, as a permanent reminder of Bodo’s artistic brilliance as a sculptor.

Robyn has carried on with her work, serving as a judge and curator for Sculptures on the Edge, both locally and Outback Queensland, and has shown her sculptures at Mary Cairncross Reserve. 

Through these connections, she frequently visited friends in Maleny until finally, the local creative energy and welcoming charm proved irresistible, and she and her miniature wire-haired dachshund, Ludwig (named after the famous explorer) took up permanent residence in 2024. 

In carrying on their legacy, Robyn says, “Bodo sort of lives on in his sculptures, and he would be very happy about it.”