Colonial forests – 1800s.

Early colonial art provides some insights into the nature and structure of the pre-European forests and woodlands.

While painters arrived on the first fleet, it was the famous professional artists like Eugene von Guerard who probably best depicted Victoria’s forests and landscapes. Surveyors like Robert Hoddle and explorers such as Major Mitchell also provided valuable historic sketches.

Some of the works are topographically and botanically accurate while others are more impressionist.

Mountains often seem a bit distorted and exaggerated, and the colours and sunlight sometimes aren’t quite right, but it’s still possible to identify the forest types, as well as the scale of the trees.

Artwork gives a glimpse into what Victoria’s native eucalypt forests might have been like before the discovery of gold and huge influx of people in 1851, which forever changed the bush.

Early paintings can sometimes help reconstruct the openness of the forests and woodlands of the precolonial period which had been under the influence of indigenous burning regimes for thousands of years.

The need to keep a campfire burning 24 hours per day would have undoubtedly cleared a lot of the fallen woody debris too.

Reference: Michael Ryan (2009). Does early Colonial Art provide an accurate guide to the nature and structure of the pre-European forests and woodlands of South-Eastern Australia? ANU. https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/server/api/core/bitstreams/46296ead-9739-4849-9932-245878fb2ea5/content