Return to the Island

Exhibition at the King Island Cultural Centre, January 2013

VIEW FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE

oil on canvas 76cm x 50cm

Notable things on King Island include the tallest lighthouse in the Southern Hemisphere, herds of dairy and beef cattle and the prevailing winds. The view from the lighthouse really was stunning, but this was more fun.

Some cows, and the real view from the lighthouse

Here are some more seemingly innocuous photographs - and the resulting painting:

beach at Cataraqui

treasures from the sea

AFTER THE STORM

40cm x 30cm oil on canvas

Things wash up on beaches during storms, especially when there is so much ocean beating on the shores.

It's always worth checking in case there is some wondrous treasure, but there probably isn't. You are most likely to find vast quantities of brightly coloured plastic, which does marine life no good at all.

But it was such a pleasant afternoon strolling along the beach near Cataraqui Point, gathering odd bits and pieces, many of which will be incorporated into odd works of art.

WRECKED

50cm x 40cm oil on canvas

Another Shipwreck painting. There will probably be some more; disasters are a splendid source of imagery.

The tale of the Battle Of King Island has to be one of the strangest and silliest bits of Australian history.

SCIENTISTS AND SOLDIERS

50cm x 46cm oil on canvas

In December 1802 Nicolas Baudin dropped anchor off King Island. He had sailed from Sydney Harbour where he had spent several months refurbishing his ships and now he was back at work, ferrying a party of scientists (whom he found intensely annoying) around the coast of Australia.

To his surprise, Lt Robbins turned up from Sydney a week later to deliver him a letter from Governor Hunter who claimed to be concerned about a rumour that the French intended establishing a settlement in Van Diemen's Land.

Robbins had obviously been packed off in a hurry to keep an eye on Baudin’s expedition, and had not had time to take on extra stores. Baudin found himself having to supply the English officer with canvas, sail-making tools, gunpowder and other necessities, while Robbins went ashore with some soldiers and had a Union Jack hoisted above the French scientists' camp. Baudin thought this pretty poor behaviour and never invited Robbins to dinner again.

There are various accounts of this incident in different books; some are very serious, others treat it as a huge joke and some of the details seem to get a bit exaggerated. I took my version from Facsimile edition no. 222 Reproduction of Text from p 1 – p 609 of the journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, translated from the French by Christine Cornell. Original publication: 1974. Libraries Board of South Australia. You can find it in the State Library.

This is the mouth of the Fraser River, not far from the place
where the French expedition set up camp.

There is a plaque on the foreshore to commemorate the event.

THE MECHANICS

56cm x 71cm oil on canvas

I like abandoned landscapes haunted by former human activity and decaying man-made structures of forgotten purpose. I'm not sure whether the Mechanics or the Machine are being threatened here, or whether they're all just going to sit down together for a nice cuppa.

This was somewhere on the island. The background landscape was somewhere else. I made up the figures.

FORGET-ME-NOTS

76cm x 50cm oil on canvas

The road from Currie to Grassy was bounded by an exuberant growth of forget-me-nots, wonderfully blue. This painting probably isn't about flowers at all, but I wanted the rich forget-me-not-blue background and while I was there I put in a few just for decoration.

OLD SCHOOL

56cm x 71cm oil on canvas

A broken chimney and a few cement footings are all that remain of the schoolhouse in Attrills Park at Pearshape. It is a strangely spooky place, surrounded by dark conifers with a mouldering picnic table in the middle. Elsewhere I found a vast expanse of feral Arum Lilies, which are also unsettling en masse. They seemed to go together.

More King Island Gothic paintings:
Shane's Grassy Oppy
When the Tide Goes Out
King Island Gothic