Rew Hanks
The Governor's Garden
Royal Botanic Gardens Artist in Residence 2010
Interpretation of the Prints
The hunter and collector 2010 (70 x 104 cm) is perhaps one of the most successful prints in the series.
The central figure of Joseph Banks is loosely inspired by two works - a 1773 mezzotint by J R Smith after Benjamin West's portrait of Banks and the 1774 mezzotint by William Dickinson after Joshua Reynolds' portrait. Like the West portrait, in which the figure of Banks is surrounded by ethnographic objects collected on the Endeavour voyage, Rew Hank's Banks is surrounded by a loose iconography of objects with connections to the central subject. Among these are the eponymous Banksia flowers, May Gibb's wicked 'Banksia Men' and a prickly pear plant, the noxious weed first introduced to Australia at the suggestion of Banks in an attempt to create a local cochineal industry.
The greyhounds, rifle and ray refer to Banks' method of collecting fauna specimens, while the skull of a merino sheep refers to Banks' post-exploration occupation as 'Master of the King's Flock'.
In a jar can be seen the head of Pemulwuy, a warrior who has come to signify early Indigenous resistance to colonisation, and who participated in an initiation ceremony at yoo-lahng, or Farm Cove (site of the modern Gardens) in 1795. Following his death in 1802, Pemulwuy's head was reportedly decapitated and sent to England to Joseph Banks by the Governor Philip King. Since lost, it was the subject of repatriation claims by Indigenous Australians, who in 2010 approached Prince William in Sydney advocating for its discovery and return.
The Hunter and Collector by Anne Ryan, Curator of Australian Prints, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Macquarie's Chair 2011 (100 x 74cm)
Major General Lachlan Macquarie was the 5th Governor of New South Wales serving from 1810 to 1821. He played a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony. He established the first bank, post office and school. He introduced the name Australia to official and common use and established the tradition of celebrating Australia Day on the 26th of January. Many refer to him as the "Father of Australia".
Australia's first official coins were the British "Cartwheel Pennies" with Britannia on one side and King George on the other and were dated 1797 and 1799. The sale and bartering of rum was also used as a form of colonial currency.
In 1810 the British government refused to fund a new hospital. Macquarie reluctantly entered into a contract with three local businessmen to erect a new hospital in return for the monopoly on rum imports. They sold over 100,000 gallons to the colonists to help finance the hospital. Although poorly built the rum hospital has survived and after many major renovations now houses the mint and NSW Parliament House.
Resting against the barrel of rum is Mrs Macquarie's cello. It was made in London of spruce, maple and willow in 1814. This was two years before the completion of her sandstone chair at Mrs Macquarie's Point with panoramic views of Sydney harbour. The cello's provenance is as unknown as was her aptitude for this instrument. Recently restored in a joint project by the Historic Trust and the Conservatory of Music it is housed in the Museum of Sydney and valued at $85,000. In 2010 composer Peter Sculthorpe was commissioned to compose a piece to commemorate the Bi-centenary of Macquarie's Governorship.
At Macquarie's request a three metre high sandstone wall was constructed in 1816 to help keep undesirables out of the inner Gardens at night. To the north of this wall he planted Australia's first avenue of trees. Several of the original Swamp Mahogany eucalypts remain today. The fish in the foreground are from a feature painting from Macquarie's collectors' chest which is housed in the State Library. It is one of two identical chests constructed in 1818 of rosewood and cedar and were made more as a presentation chest rather than a traditional scientific collectors chest. It stores a wonderful array of artefacts, specimens and 13 painted panels. The artwork in the chest depicts colonial Newcastle (the sky behind Macquarie is taken from a similar artwork) and was produced by colonial artist Joseph Lycett who was serving time in a Newcastle gaol for forgery, his original crime.
Mr Macquarie's Chair is one of two matching colonial gothic armchairs made for him in 1820 of rose mahogany with the arms and seat upholstered in kangaroo skin. The backs of the chairs are adorned with an intricately carved arm clutching a dagger, the crest of the Macquarie family. This is an ominous reminder of the poor treatment he received upon his return to London where his knighthood and pension were withheld and he spent his last days trying to clear his name as a failed Governor.
This chair is housed in the Powerhouse Museum and the other at Macquarie University.
Beneath his armchair sits an ornately decorated chamber pot. The Macquaries installed the first flushing toilet in NSW at their residence at Government House in Parramatta. They appeared to be slightly affluent about their effluent. Emblazoned across the pot are the words "Fair Go", a reference to the emancipists, convicts who were given conditional or absolute pardons for good behaviour, diligent work or their sentences had been served. Macquarie insisted emancipated convicts be treated like social equals which antagonised the free settlers, religious leaders, the military and of course the British hierarchy.
The lighthouse represents Francis Greenway receiving a full pardon after completing Australia's first lighthouse and his appointment as colonial architect. Macquarie's "Fair Go" philosophy remains an integral part of Australia's contemporary society.
King Bungaree at the Bottle Tree 2010 (100 x 71cm)
In King Bungaree at the Bottle Tree 2010 (linocut, 100 x 71 cm), the central figure is taken from Augustus Earle's portrait Portrait of Bungaree, a native of New South Wales c.1826.
Bungaree (d.1830) lived in colonial Sydney, although he was originally from Broken Bay, and became highly adapted to life in the settlement, maintaining good relations with a number of governors, and serving as an intermediary between Indigenous people and the white settlers. He is shown wearing European dress, including a cocked hat (echoing a boomerang) and a breastplate, presented to him in 1815 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, with the invented title 'Bungaree: Chief of the Broken Bay Tribe'.
Bungaree accompanied Matthew Flinders on his 1801-02 circumnavigation of Australian, the first Aborigine to do so - Flinders' cat, Trim, is shown in the lower left of the image. Somewhat wooden in appearance, the image is taken from a bronze sculpture that sits on a window ledge of the Mitchell Library in Macquarie Street.
The Gardens has a few specimens of bottle tree; in its branches are flying foxes, which have infested trees in the Gardens since 1900, destroying many valuable plants. As they are protected, humane methods of removing them have been the subject of much public controversy.
By Anne Ryan, Curator of Australian Prints, Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Devil's Garden
The central figure John Gould is taken from an oil painting by Henry Williams c. 1839. Gould is splendidly attired on a collecting foray in the Tasmanian bushland during his eighteen-month visit to the Colonies.
On his return to England Gould published his beautifully illustrated books "The Birds of Australia" and "The Mammals of Australia". The images of the Platypus, Tasmanian Tiger and Devil and Bush Turkey are adapted from the hand-coloured lithographs found in these publications.
The young giraffe grazing under the trees was one of three giraffes sent by Muhammad Ali Pasha of Egypt to Europe in 1827. This giraffe was a gift to King George IV but unfortunately died within two years of its arrival to England. The King commissioned the young Gould who was a highly skilled taxidermist to stuff his recently deceased pet. The King's request gave Gould his first taste of publicity and a vision of the public's growing interest in natural history and the exotic.
Opposite the giraffe Charles Darwin's HMS Beagle can be seen berthing at Hobart Town which it did in1836 during its five year world voyage. On his return to England in 1837 Darwin asked Gould to classify several new species of birds that he had collected from the Galapagos Archipelagos. Gould identified nine new species of brown finches that became known as Darwin's Finches. This played an important part for Darwin when formulating his theory on evolution.
A loyal Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine) stands at Gould's side as if posing for posterity. Unfortunately the last Tasmanian Tiger died less than 100 years later in a Hobart Zoo in 1936. After endless sightings and optimistic attempts at cloning this striped marsupial's extinction seems certain.
A group of Tasmanian Devils play in the foreground. Upon closer inspection it becomes apparent that they are all identical. This questions the likelihood of success by "Devil Ark" to successfully breed a "Free Range" colony of devils at Barrington Tops in NSW. Unfortunately the natural genetic diversity of the devils on Tasmania is limited and its extinction may have already commenced.
A Queensland Blue 2011 (56 x 56cm) handcoloured
Sir Joseph Banks first collected a specimen of a Queensland kookaburra in 1770 while he waited for the Endeavour's hull to be repaired after hitting by a reef near present day Cooktown. He unfortunately lost some of his precious dried specimens when the hull filled with seawater. Banks manage to save the valuable watercolours of the Australian flora produced by Sydney Parkinson.
Banks hired 18 engravers to produce over 700 engravings for his "Florilegium" which wasn't published until 1980-90 in 34 parts. The Banksia Serrata is a magnificent example from this suite of prints.
In early 1788 the first farm cultivated nine acres of corn on the site of the Royal Botanic Gardens.
The First Fleet had also brought sugar cane to Australia from the Cape of Good Hope in 1788. It was grown successfully in Queensland and became a major industry in 1867.
In the 1930's the grey back cane beetle began to destroy the sugar cane crops of North Queensland. Although the adult beetles eat the leaves the major damage is caused by their larvae hatching underground and eating the roots of the sugar cane.
A Queensland Blue is a double pun on the name of this Kookaburra but more importantly the ecological disaster that unfolded by introducing the cane toad to Australia in 1935. This poorly researched decision proved to be completely futile in combating the cane beetle problem.
Life on the Lotus Pond 2010 (56 x 56cm) handcoloured
Lotus was first established in the Koi pond next to the Oriental Garden in 2005. Many of the earlier attempts were hindered by the constant nibbling of the resident water hens. By planting more than the water hens could eat the lotus were eventually successfully established.
The lotus plant is revered by most eastern cultures. It has been used as a key symbol of fertility, nobility and purity in the Buddhist religion for thousands of years. Many believe that an individual's spiritual journey progresses from the lowest to the highest state of consciousness. This mirrors the lotus' circle of life starting from the muddy beginnings and growing into a magnificent flower.
The rhizomes, seeds, leaves and flowers are all eaten and the lotus buds are made into ornate arrangements which are offered to Buddha.
In the pond next to Farm Cove the Pacific Black Duck and the Australian Long Finned Eel have co-habited for many years. The eels make their way overland to the pond from Farm Cove on the high tide on rainy nights. However the mature eels have to leave the pond to spawn, migrating all the way to New Caledonia. Life on these ponds is kept in perfect balance with the eels eating the occasional duck egg and the ducks feasting on the small eels.
2010 was the year of Biodiversity.
The New Zealand Rose 2010 (56 x 56cm) handcoloured
The Australian Brushtail Possum was first released in New Zealand in 1837 from Tasmania with the express purpose of establishing a fur trade. This trade has grown into an export industry worth about $40 million per annum with the sale of gloves, blankets, jumpers, stoles and many products made from merino and possum blends.
Without natural predators this furry cat-sized marsupial thrives in the lush New Zealand native bush and has become a major ecological problem killing native trees and competing with native animals and birds for food. There are approximately 70 million possums in New Zealand today. The New Zealand government spends around $80 million per annum on possum control using 1080 poison that is banned from many countries.
Another introduced species to New Zealand is the Australian Waratah. Since 2005 it has thrived in the rich volcanic soils found on the North Island. Controversially patented under the name 'The New Zealand Rose", the Waratah is exported to Europe and North America. Magnificent specimens of various species of fern can be found in the Fernery in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney.
The Silver Fern has become the unofficial symbol of New Zealand, used in logos for many sporting teams such as rugby, netball, cricket, football and hockey. Australian teams often play against New Zealand in all these codes of sport. In 2005 another copyright battle took place over the usage of this symbol. The N.Z. Rugby Board lost a four year legal battle to register all images of the fern as their own. The border is decorated with the Maori Koru spiral that is based on a new unfurling silver fern, symbolizing new life, growth, strength and peace.
Just keep plenty of Freshwater Algae up to it 2011 (56 x 42cm) handcoloured
In 2004 Dr Tim Entwisle was appointed Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust in Sydney. Tim is a highly respected scientist and scientific communicator with a broad interest in plants, science and gardens.
Since 1984 Tim has published extensively on the evolutionary history of the fresh water red algae. When recently asked to recall the highlight of his seven years as Director he mentioned the flowering of the Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum). Its flower is the largest in the world but unfortunately possibly the smelliest. Its flowering structure grows to about three metres high but only lasts for three days. Its Indonesian common name is "corpse plant".
The glasshouse depicted in the background is from Kew gardens - Tim's new home.
In April 2011, Tim leaves Sydney to take up the appointment of Director of Conservation, Living Collections and Estates at Kew Gardens in London. The garden has the largest collection of living plants in the world.
The Royal Barbecue Down Under 2011 (98 x 74cm)
After attending a smoking ceremony held by the indigenous community of Redfern, Prince William has promised to investigate the whereabouts of Pemulwuy's head and its possible return to Australia.
This charming knockabout Prince has settled down to a beer, bangers and barbie under a fine old English oak tree in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney.
During the summer holidays the Gardens host the popular children's pantomime "The Wind in the Willows". Perched in a chair Mr Toad looks up to the dubious aroma emitted from the barbecue. The Prince is enthusiastically grilling not frog's legs but the hindquarters of Cane Toads. This thoughtlessly imported serial pest has hitchhiked from the north and established an expanding colony at Taren Point in Sydney.
The Prince, a staunch environmentalist like his dad, has agreed to also grill sausages spiked with toxic toad poison and feed them to the endangered Eastern Quoll. This is part of an experiment by the CSIRO to hopefully increase the quoll's resistance to the toad's venom and avoid the demise of this magnificent carnivorous marsupial.
Reminiscent of Disney's "Snow White" this industrious Prince is surrounded by a menagerie of domesticated creatures. Out on the limb of this oak tree, a pair of recently imported Striped Indian Palm squirrels seem ready for a romantic interlude. Although they have been supposedly de-sexed, bar-coded and sold as pets, these pesky rodents may escape and establish a colony. This has happened previously when in 1898 the Perth Zoo released these harmless little critters to roam around its grounds. An active breeding colony has expanded to a 30 km radius around the Zoo.
The Prince will continue his Royal duties and judge the Red Bull Flugtag air show held biennially in the Gardens. He is perfectly qualified to judge this event after recently receiving his "Wings" from the Royal Air Force. Unfortunately "Ichabod and Mr Toad" (from the Disney's 1949 classic) have dive-bombed the Prince relentlessly during his lunch break and will no doubt be judged harshly by His Royal Highness in the Flugtag competition.
Beside this "Deluxe Silver Royal Windsor" barbecue supported by a flute, a sausage-thieving, obese Kookaburra stands unable to take to the skies. Perhaps this rotund giant Kingfisher might lose his laughter while working out at the Taronga Zoo gymnasium to Men at Work's anthem "Down Under". A possible comparison may be drawn to Australia's overweight nation.
In contrast an idle Gilbert ball awaits the grasp of this Royal rugby tragic who is at the ready for a spontaneous game of "Touch Footie" with the boys contravening all Gardens protocol.
In the tradition of the finest Royal gardeners, Prince William will take a silver- plated shovel in hand and turn the first grain of soil and plant this fine young fig tree. Later a brass plaque will be erected bearing his name, date and location. Hopefully this tree will thrive into the next century or two and become a symbol of an optimistic green future. The fig tree planting actually happened in Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens.
How can we sleep while our beds are … ? 2010 (30 x 40cm)
How can we sleep while the rubber is burning …? 2010 (30 x 50cm)
Midnight message from the Count 2010 (30 x 20cm) handcoloured
The Grey-headed Flying-fox (fruit bat) is a mega-bat that finds its food by using its sight and acute sense of smell. They live for 6-10 years in social camps roosting by day and feeding at night. They are important pollinators of eucalypts and melaleuca forests of eastern and northern Australia. They are the largest bats in Australia with a wing-span of up to a metre.
In 2008 an ancient cave painting of fruit bats from about 25,000 years ago was found in the Kimberley region. It depicts eight roosting flying foxes, however their white facial features suggest they are from an extinct species.
Flying foxes probably visited the site of the Royal Botanic Garden for many thousands of years before European settlement, feeding on the local vegetation. Since Governor Macquarie established the Gardens in 1816, large numbers of bats were recorded in 1858, 1900, 1916 and 1920. In the early years, the NSW Gun Club would cull large numbers when needed. After a 70 year absence the bats returned in 1990. Since then numbers in the gardens have increased dramatically because the big trees of the Garden and the food supply from here and the surrounding city and suburban domestic gardens, along with the loss of habitat elsewhere, have made this area more attractive. The constant roosting of this large colony has killed 26 mature trees, 20 palms and over 60 trees are in a critical condition. In 2006 a giant Kauri Pine was killed which was planted in1853. Soon areas such as the Palm Grove may be restricted from the public because of the threat of falling limbs.
On the 14th of May 2010 the Federal Government gave the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust permission to commence the relocation of the bats using noise and visual disturbance. Conditions of this approval require attaching radio and satellite transmitters to 100 or so bats, and the banding of several hundred more during pre-dawn controlled netting. The relocation was halted in 2010 because not enough bats could be captured that were above the weight required to fit the transmitters. It seems that the bats were underweight due to the lack of food available caused by the extreme wet season. The relocation is now planned for Autumn 2011, with monitoring continuing in the meantime to get a better idea of their habits and movements.
When the time comes to move them on, recorded garden noises such as chainsaws and hedge trimmers will be emitted from a roving buggy at regular intervals. This method of relocation was successfully used several years ago by the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. As in Melbourne, the bats will be welcome to return at night to feed in the Gardens but not to continue the destructive roosting during the day.
The former minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts Mr Peter Garrett sanctioned this program. Mr Garrett the former lead singer of Midnight Oil for 30 years, the president of the Australian Conservation Foundation for a decade and an appointee of the Member of the Order of Australia for his contributions to the environment and the music industry has had more than his share of controversy.
Although these prints may portray Mr Garrett as a demonic character, vilified as a political scapegoat, his environmental concerns are always paramount in this work. Depicted as an inflatable arm flailing tube man (the gardens used these men unsuccessfully to relocate the bats) parodies his famous often "stiff and sudden" dance movements seen while performing on stage.
In the Sydney 2000 Olympics he performed in a black tracksuit bearing the word "Sorry". Perhaps this apology is for the indigenous bats, or perhaps, as the Gardens' Executive Director Tim Entwisle likes to think, also for the trees lost by the botanic gardens over the last 20 years due to an overabundance of these same bats. ?
A Half Century from Moore Print from Kauri Pine Woodblock 2010 (60 x 90cm)
For nearly half a century Charles Moore (1848-1896) was director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. During his long innings he established a Herbarium, Library, Palm Grove, Spring Walk, Aviary, Zoo, reclaimed the foreshore of Farm Cove and built the Garden Palace. Gas lighting was introduced to the Gardens to improve safety and help prevent lewd behaviour after dark. He also planted the magnificent avenue of fig trees which currently border the Domain.
The central figure of this woodcut is Charles Moore who sports a white coat as if he were a cricket umpire. However he appears disinterested with the "Grand Cricket Match" between England and NSW in progress behind him.
Early colonial cricket matches held at the Domain were documented by S.T. Gill in the 1850's using watercolours and hand coloured lithographs. On the left in the foreground a ghostly portrait of Gill can be seen under the umbrella, a bleak reminder of a forgotten artist who died prematurely on the steps of the Melbourne Post Office from the effects of alcoholism and syphilis.
Two intimidating larger then life members from the Sydney Rifle Corps flank the scene ready to quell any unlikely disturbances from the truly transfixed crowd. Or perhaps their presence reflects the friction between the newly formed NSW Cricket Association and the Military over the usage of the Domain.
Frenchman Pierre Maigre's balloon is held aloft by a fanciful wind of optimism. At the Domain in 1856 his balloon actually failed to ascend causing an impatient crowd of thousands to riot demanding the refund of their five shillings entry fee. Unfortunately an eleven year old boy was killed in the melee by a falling pole used to tether the balloon.
In the foreground a double portrait of French bohemian Post-Impressionist Henri Toulouse Lautrec can be seen planning a possible lithographic poster of his surrounds. Nearby Lautrec wearing a bowler hat becomes the perfect parody of an affluent British art dealer or a wealthy patron of the arts. Perhaps he would be more comfortable seated in the grandstand on the other side of the field with the "colonial" gentry. Unfortunately Lautrec also died prematurely from the effects of alcoholism and syphilis like his follow lithographer S.T.Gill. A lifetime of mocking because of his small stature caused by a congenital health condition brought on by inbreeding was a contributing factor.
To the right of the balloon stands the majestic Norfolk Island Pine planted in 1812-15 which became the sentimental favourite of the Gardens known as the "The Wishing Tree". Due to its fragile state it was felled in 1945 and souvenirs were made from its wood and sold to help disabled soldiers. Similarly Moore planted a Kauri Pine from New Caledonia in 1853. Unfortunately it was killed by the relentless roosting of the grey-headed bats and required felling in 2007. In 2010 timber tables, armchairs, mirrors, clocks, turned bowls, chests, musicals instruments, theatrical sets, a woodcut (this one) and even a clinker-built dinghy were produced from the Kauri Pine. This diverse and unique range of timber artwork was sold to help fund the regeneration of the severely damaged Palm Grove.
Moore's seedling fig trees have been removed from their picket fence enclosures suggesting a nation's preference of sport over the environment. Under Moore's watchful eye will we win this test or be continually governed by the bat?
Whispers from the Prison Tree 2009 (22 x 22cm)
This massive ancient boab tree is believed to be around 1,500 years old and sits on the outskirts of the remote northern town of Derby in the Western Australia's rugged Kimberly region. The tree is an incredible 15 metres in circumference with a hollow centre and a door cut out of its side.
This boab was once used by the police patrols in the 1890's as a staging point for aboriginal prisoners being walked into Derby for sentencing. A displaced King Bungaree from Sydney stands at the doorway of the tree listening to the secrets hidden within this hallowed boab.