FIERY PANORAMA

 

Spectacular  from Castle Hill, Townsville. Abra pix. 

(Panorama . Townsville. Abra.)

TRAIL BLAZING ARTISTS

The  first person to  exhibit  paintings in Central Australa was  Jessie Constance Alicia Traill . The exhibition  was  held  in l928 in the  Alice Springs  schoolhouse , the water colours pinned on police station  blankets , only  one  picture sold . Described  as  an intrepid traveller, Traill, with much overseas   experience ,   made her way to  Alice Springs  by  train and   truck and  did  paintings  of    landscapes along the way .   

In 1933 , she returned to Central Australia  by car   with another prominent  artist, Violet Teague, and  her sister,Una, and visited  the Hermannsburg  Mission , a drought having recently led to the death  of a third  of  the population.

Violet befriended the Aboriginal artist  Albert  Namatjira who accompanied  the  trio on painting  excursions  ; he   named  a   daughter after her. 

Upon returning to  Melbourne , the  sisters organised an exhibition  to raise more than 2000 pound  for a water   pipeline to  the Mission. The exhibition included  works  donated by Traill, Frederick McCubbin, E. Phillips  Fox and  Hans  Heysen .

In letters she wrote to newspapers  announcing the   Hermannsburg exhibition,  Violet  Teague  said  Aboriginal people had   survived "100 years of  our occupation," and had been cheated of their  inheritance  by colonialism.   This  , it  was  said , denied the  eugenicist  justification that they  were an  innately  dying race. The pipeline was  laid in l935 from Kaporilja Spings to the Mission .

Apart from being a painter, Violet Teague was a designer of  murals for Victorian  churches. She had studied  in Brussels and  England and in  l935 travelled to Sweden aboard a  sailing ship , making studies along  the way.    

She won a  Bronze Medal  at the  l915 Panama Exposition  ,  a Silver  at the Paris Salon in  l920 for a portrait of a boy .with a palette-Theo Scharf, born in Melbourne of  German parents, who became  an etcher and painter. 

On the outbreak of  the First World War,  his mother took him back to Germany .Returning to  Australia, he became an illustrator and  contributed to the Bulletin, a  WWll   war  artist.     

One of   four  daughters  of  a  well  to  do  family  , Jessie Traill,  was born  in Victoria in 1881. It is said that  at the age of  10 , while playing on the beach, she encountered the  renowned  artist Tom Roberts  painting  . He   become a  friend and  mentor who  encouraged  her  artistic career .

In 1907, to further her sketching studies, Jessie enrolled at the London School of Arts, attended Royal Academy classes , enrolled for three months at  the  Académie Colarossi in Paris.

Traill exhibited works at the Royal Academy and the Old Salon in 1908 before returning to Australia in 1909 where she held her first solo exhibition. With the outbreak of  WWl, she signed up as a nurse .

In 1915 she won a gold medal at the Panama Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco for her etching Beautiful victims (1914) ,which depicted two men felling large gums in the Dandenong Ranges , Victoria . It represented Traill’s concern for the natural world and the disappearance of bushland in aid  of  industrial progress. 

She  spent  time in Sydney  painting  the  Harbour Bridge   while it was under  construction. 

Her biography at the top of this post is from the latest list on Australian Art  by Douglas Stewart  Fine Books, Melbourne. The author, Jo Oliver, a writer and  printmaker, has  penned much  about  early  Australian  women artists and has written  and  illustrated  children's  books .

(Artists. Women. Outback.)

TREE OF KNOWLEDGE EXPANDING

 Part of  the  plan  to revitalize   Darwin's   CBD  is the  Cavanagh Street   campus  of  Charles Darwin University which  includes  a  library, art galleries , adjustable teaching  spaces , an oral history recording   studio  and   a  reading room  for  collections . It  is near a Banyan Tree  , know as the Tree of Knowledge, it is thought to have been part of a long gone  rainforest and is  an  historic link with the early days  of  Darwin when it  was a meeting  place  for  the  Larrakia , Chinese and  early  European settlers.

Petros pix.

( Darwin. Tree. Heritage.).

THE LUCKY COUNTRY FOR DOGS

The  saying   Man's best friend is  his  dog is true - especially in Australia- when you  look  at   the  wide  range  of  gourmet  tucker being offered for canines  at  a new stall  in  the  large   Castletown  shopping   complex  in Townsville .   

Called  One For Each Paw, the  Hervey Bay , Queensland  , based  company, which  offers a range  of  handmade, quality  Australian dog treats  , including  pig  ears, chicken pops, kangaroo jerky, roo sticks, eclairs and   even  ice cream cones,   has  been going for ll years   .

The Queensland politician, Bob Katter senior, who claims one of his constituents  is regularly torn  to pieces by a crocodile in North Queensland  and  has long called for a  cull of saurians , will probably buy a  lot of  the above  dog treat. He might also  be  interested  in  the  tasty shark  tail. 

Last night  SBS television  had a  special  Insight show which highlighted  the joy  of  dog  ownership  in  Australia.  Vallis  pix. 

(Dogs. Gourmet. Crocodile.)

BURNING LANDMARK

 

Castle  Hill , Townsville.  Vallis pix.  

(Fire. Hill.Townsville.)

OLD CHINATOWN , SHANGHAI

 

Photos by Aeronautical Correspondent Abra .

(Shanghai. Chinatown. Abra.)

PICTURESQUE SETTING OF TROPICAL CITY , FROZEN IN HEAVEN BY BINGO CALLER

Clock on old railway station tower stuck on 11 .

 

Townsville by Aeronautical Correspondent  Abra. .

(Townsville. Views. Abra.)