Botanical Art Exhibition 2014
About a month ago I was contacted by the convener of the Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne in relation to completing some writing to accompany some botanical art for an upcoming exhibition. I was quite excited about the prospect as writing an accompaniment for botanical artwork was a new prospect for me.
The artwork about which I wrote was an illustration of the 'Separation Tree' in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. The artist is Beverley Lewis and the illustrations were done using graphite pencil. Seeing the art in person was amazing. Beverley emailed me some jpgs examples of the illustrations but I didn't realize how large (almost a 90cm high) and incredibly detailed they were until I saw them at the exhibition. The Separation Tree tree has been the subject of some of my writing in the past and I've visited it on several occasions. I kept the writing to a few small paragraphs (see the finished product below). It is also interesting how the location of the exhibition mirrored certain details about he separation tree's history namely;
- The Separation Tree is named so because Charles La Trobe made the proclamation of Victoria's split from NSW and the exhibition was next door to Charles La Trobe's cottage
- The plaque under the Separtion Tree which briefly describes its history was unveiled by Sir Reginald Dallas Brooks and the exhibition was held in a building on Dallas Brooks drive.
If you are interested in botanical art I recommend you go see the exhibition. It closes on November the 9th and is open 10am - 4pm weekdays, 10am - 6pm weekends and 10am to 4pm on Sunday the 9th of November. The address is Dallas Brooks Drive, Melbourne.
Below are two jpg images of Beverley's artwork. These pale in comparison to seeing the real thing. The level of detail and size of the illustrations must be seen with the naked eye to be fully appreciated.
Below is my writing which accompanied Beverley's incredible artwork
On the morning of the 15th of November 1850, Charles
La Trobe addressed a large gathering to formally announce that Victoria would
become a colony separate from that of New South Wales. He made the famous proclamation
at the north-western section of the Melboune Royal Botanic Gardens, under a
River Red Gum tree.
On that sunny spring day the newly established turf in the
Botanic Gardens was an ideal location for a celebration. Perhaps this River Red
Gum’s established size was a natural focal point for La Trobe to make his
announcement or maybe it merely provided shade from the sun. Whatever the
reason, this tree, through circumstances favourable to both location and time,
made its way into the state of Victoria’s history and is now locally known as
the ‘Separation Tree’.
The Separation Tree is 24 metres high and its trunk has a
diameter of 1 metre. It is estimated to be between 300 and 400 years old which
means it predates European colonization. The site of the Royal Botanic Gardens in
Melbourne was an important meeting and gathering place for the Wurundjeri
people and other clans of the Kulin nation. As such the Separation Tree holds
significance as a witness to Melbourne’s pre and post-colonial history.
Alexander Krasovskis
Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne (undated) Aboriginal Resource Trail Teachers Kit, Royal Botanic Gardens
Melbourne website.
National Trust http://www.trusttrees.org.au/tree/VIC/Melbourne/Royal_Botanic_Gardens_Birdwood_Avenue_5
[accessed 13/10/2014]
Fagg, P (2012) ‘The ‘Separation Tree’: past present and
possible future’ in The Victorian
Naturalist, Vol 129 (4).
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The sign just outside the entrance to the exhibition with Charles La Trobe's cottage in the background
I visited the actual Separation Tree after the exhibition.
