Peter Draffin

Peter Francey Draffin (25 March 1947 - 22 November 2019) was an Australian author prolific in the 1960s and 1970s.
Early years
His education began at Tudor House School in Moss Vale, New South Wales, and continued at Cranbrook School, Sydney, both of which list him as a notable alumnus. Representing Cranbrook he achieved a 1st in the 1964 Australian Rowing Championships. Described by rock climber John Ewbank as a "very eccentric young man" Draffin was also secretary of the Sydney Rock Climbing Club while at Cranbrook.
He studied literature at the University of Sydney but, drawn more towards creative than academic pursuits, chose not to complete his degree.
He married Dianne Leslie Irwin in Moss Vale in 1969. His wife died on 7 February 1986. Their only child is Christabel Draffin.
Peak years
Draffin mostly wrote as Peter Draffin but sometimes under the nom de plume Julian Spenser.
His most notable novel was the psychedelia-inspired Pop (1967), illustrated throughout by Yellow House Artist Collective founder Martin Sharp (also a Cranbrook alumnus) and published by Scripts Pty Ltd. Pop became a beat book collector's item with the passage of time.
Draffin and Sharp formed a lasting association through their collaboration for Pop. Draffin receives mention accordingly throughout Sharp's biographies by Lowell Tarling, to which he contributed commentary and interviews.
Life at The Pheasantry placed Draffin and other residents at the epicentre of London's counter-cultural life.
As an arts counterculture figure, Draffin was recognised as much as a face of the times as an author. In that context he is mentioned in Yellow House co-founder George Gittoes' autobiography Blood Mystic (2016) and two Martin Sharp biographies. He wrote feature articles for the alternative/underground magazine and lifestyle articles for magazine.
Though some commentators have categorised Draffin as a pulp fiction writer, his body of work is eclectic and includes poetry, such as his 1968 A Dream of You.
Later years
As an Australian post-Beat Generation figure, Draffin became a favoured consultant and interviewee in later life, receiving credit from novelists and biographers researching the hippie and counterculture scene.
Draffin was photographed with other notable Australians by Jon Lewis, for the Australian Bicentennial exhibition Face to Face - 200 portraits 1986-1988 which was purchased in 2001 by the National Museum of Australia.
Draffin became teetotal for the last eighteen years of his life and still wrote daily, using manual typewriters, having always eschewed technology.

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