24 Australian GeographicM
Y GRANDFATHER Fabian
Russell spent much of his
working life surrounded
by the sumptuous curves and delicate
prettiness of crystal chandeliers.
Pictured here in 1977 at the Regent
Theatre in Sydney, Fabian was an
electrician, who worked in the lighting
sections of Sydney department stores
Mark Foy’s and Grace Bros, before
branching out on his own.
It was his love of chandeliers that
drew him to restoration work, says
Noeleen, his wife of 45 years and my
step-grandmother. “It was the colours
and crystals. He knew all about them.”
Born in the Illawarra city of
Wollongong, Grandpa Fabes grew up
in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, where
he later became known for his deft
handiwork. Dubbed the ‘Chandelier
Man’, he “worked for many influential
people, even a few prime ministers”,
says Noeleen, who recalls the time, in
the late ’80s, that he was called to the
home of former PM William ‘Billy’
McMahon to quote on a job.
Although McMahon didn’t hire
him, Grandpa Fabes went on to restore
thousands of chandeliers, including
those adorning Sydney’s State Theatre
and Government House in Canberra,
and two huge beauties from Adelaide
Town Hall. “They sent them up on
trucks,” Noeleen says, “and he did
them in the back garage.”
The Regent Theatre job was a mas-
sive one, she says. This 3m-tall art decoAustralian Geographic’s Amy Russell looks back at a
historic image that has a special meaning for her.family ties
The Chandelier Man
AMY RUSSELL is AG’s chief sub-editor;
her last piece was The makers (AG 121).model was designed by Georges
Chevalier, a master craftsman with
Baccarat Crystal in France. It was
the centrepiece for an exhibition in
Paris in 1925, before it was shipped to
Sydney. By the time Grandpa Fabes
laid his hands on it more than 50 years
later, it was in a sad state of disrepair.
“It was solid brass,” Noeleen says,
“and it had 24 arms hanging around
the centre.” Grandpa Fabes replaced
thousands of broken crystals, the
entire job taking more than a month.
He had a secret, “magic” clean-
ing formula, says Noeleen, and they
always came up “sparkling clean”. A
talented craftsman in his own right,
Grandpa Fabes also salvaged parts to
make chandeliers. “He’d go to auctions
and junk shops,” says Noeleen, “see the
frames and think, ‘I can do something
with that.’” I remember sitting beside
him in his garage when I was little,
watching as he jemmied wire through
the hearts of crystals, his fingers quick
and nimble, his eyes as bright and
speckled as the little sparklers.
And it was this eye for detail that
saw him through to the end. Before he
died in 2009 at the age of 79, he had
Noeleen bring pliers into his hospital
room, so he could make wind chimes
for the nurses. “He was a rascal,
that’s for sure,” she says. “But he got a
lot of joy out of making people happy.”KEITH BYRONag0914_snapshot_2P24 - 24 2014-08-01T16:47:17+10:00