ARKIE Whiteley, 36, the daughter of painter Brett Whiteley, died yesterday.

Arkie, who has been seriously unwell with cancer, recently secretly married her lover, Bali-based surfer and painter Jim Elliot.

Staff at the resort he owns, The Villa in fashionable Seminyak, confirmed that Ms Whitely had died. Her husband could not be contacted last night. People at the house in Palm Beach, Sydney, where he is staying also refused to comment.

Her father, one of Australia’s most outrageous and most admired painters, died of a drug overdose in 1992.

Last year Arkie Whiteley was diagnosed with a brain tumour and underwent surgery at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital. She is believed to have succumbed to a particularly virulent form of cancer.

Arkie, the only child of Brett and Wendy Whiteley, went through much in her life, including an unorthodox childhood and thesubsequent break-up of her parents’ marriage.

The stunningly beautiful and well-regarded actress appeared in nine movies, including Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior in 1981 and most recently The Last Musketeer in 2000.

After her father’s death Ms Whitely took on the challenge over eight years of cataloguing and archiving his works for show at the Brett Whiteley Studio in Surry Hills, Sydney.