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Captions by curators Alisa Bunbury and Sophie Gerhard
Tue 7 Jul 2026 17.00 CEST
Eucalyptus obliqua by Pierre Joseph Redouté (draughtsman) and Francois Hubert (engraver), 1788
The first European scientific description using the taxonomic name eucalyptus was published in 1788 by the wealthy French botanist Charles-Louis L’Héritier de Brutelle. His book included this engraving of messmate stringybark – the first print depicting a eucalypt – and was based upon specimens and seeds taken from Lutruwita/Tasmania in 1774, on Cook’s second voyage to the Pacific. Eucalyptus obliqua was one of the first gums to be grown in England and the first to be commercially available at nurseries.Illustration: Pierre Joseph Redouté/Francois Hubert/State Library of Victoria
The Gilbert Family by Alexander Schramm, 1864
In 19th century Australian art, gigantic eucalypts with hollow bases were presented as objects of awe and backdrops for settler–colonist self-imaging. Barossa vine grower Joseph Gilbert commissioned Schramm to depict his family posed around this giant tree rather than in his gardens or orchards. The Aboriginal man, possibly Peramangk or Ngadjuri, shown tending the pony, and the dead possum carried triumphantly in the dog’s mouth, are depictions of colonial dominance. Gilbert’s estate Pewsey Vale continues as a winery today; the ancient tree was lost to fire.Illustration: Alexander Schramm/Art Gallery of South Australia
Gisborne Hill from the slopes of Mount Macedon by Louis Buvelot, 1875
This painting was exhibited to much praise, with one reviewer writing: ‘Our rocks and mountains, our pastures and creeks, are always characteristic, but the eucalyptus is the most characteristic of all; and in depicting its weird aspects and contorted ramification, Mr Buvelot is always happy and successful.’ Buvelot’s ability to capture the untidy nature of gums and make them appealing was hugely influential on the next generation of Melbourne artists, including Frederick McCubbin and Arthur Streeton.Illustration: Luis Buvelot/Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
Cockatoo by Robert Prenzel, 1915
Prenzel, a Prussian-born woodcarver, emigrated to Melbourne in 1888 and established his own cabinet-making business in the early 1900s. Encouraged to carve items that would appeal to a local audience, he merged the fluid curves of art nouveau design with Australian motifs in a style later dubbed ‘gumnut nouveau’. This panel was produced during the first world war, when anti-German sentiment limited his once lucrative furniture commissions. Although it is not carved from eucalypt timbers, gum branches were the principal native plant he depicted.Photograph: Robert Prenzel
Last of the messmates by Arthur Streeton, 1928
After living abroad for more than 20 years, Streeton returned to Australia, acquiring land in the Dandenong Ranges. The rolling hills and expansive vistas inspired his atmospheric late-career landscapes – and activism. In a newspaper article titled ‘Ruin in the Range. The penalty of Occupation’, Streeton decried the logging of old-growth forests: ‘With our settlement we have upset the natural order of things, and the result is fire, wind and desolation … [We] have no appreciation of the beauty and use of trees, no sense of our responsibility … in preserving the forests for future generations.’Illustration: Arthur Streeton
Red hills of Aroona, Flinders Ranges by Hans Heysen, 1933
Heysen first visited the Flinders Ranges, Adnyamathanha Country, in 1926 and returned multiple times, captivated by the striking geology, the intense light and the enormous river red gums. At a time when both inland tourism and colour photography were still uncommon, Heysen’s dramatic oil paintings and translucent watercolours were a revelation to city dwellers accustomed to the softer hues of south-eastern Australia. His paintings played a significant role in changing public sentiment towards central Australia.Illustration: Hans Heysen/The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Eucalyptus preissiana by Margaret Stones, 1963
Stones began her artistic and botanical career in Melbourne, attending botany lectures and participating in field trips. In 1951 she moved to London where her meticulous drawing skills led to her becoming a principal botanical artist for Kew Gardens and for Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, which has been in print since 1787. With its striking yellow flowers, the bell-fruited mallee (Eucalyptus preissiana) is now a popular tree for small gardens, although it is indigenous only to a small area in south-western Western Australia.Illustration: Margaret Stones/National Gallery of Victoria
Angophoras and Hawkesbury by Shay Docking, 1975
The layers, angles and shadows of volcanic craters, cliffs and rocky beaches captivated Docking, as did plant forms. During the 1970s, she created a series of drawings inspired by the sandstone formations of Ku-ring-gai Chase national park on the Hawkesbury river north of Sydney, and its distinctive trees (Angophora costata): ‘With its smooth pink dimpled skin-like bark and gnarled branches, it swirls and spirals in an astonishing way – it looks extremely calligraphic … Salt sea winds and warm stone urge angophora into more and more fantastic shapes.’Illustration: Shay Docking/Art Gallery of New South Wales
Nesting by Hossein Valamanesh, 2005
Valamanesh emigrated from Iran in his mid-20s. During his long career, his practice evocatively expressed the sense of duality, or schism, that can come with carrying one’s culture and way of being in one’s heart. He often appears in his work in the form of a silhouette or shadow, as a kind of everyman. In this photograph the artist is wholly present, physically and metaphorically embodying the challenge of trying to ‘nest’ in a new land, with its upside-down seasons, strange flora and fauna, and vastly different customs.Photograph: Hossein Valamanesh/Art Gallery of South Australia
Puṉu-ngura (Tree country) by Hector Burton, 2013
The tree forms in Puṉu-ngura rise like canopies in rainbow colours, from three strong roots. It is an image of abundance, where the puṉu (trees) are in planar perspective, growing in different directions from the artist’s ngura (Country). This work stems from a 2011 initiative of Burton and other Aṉangu artists to paint trees instead of Tjukurpa (Dreaming stories) and to protect the importance of their law. Burton has stated: ‘The trees are different for Aṉangu. They are the ancestors, they are our family. They are our history and our future.’Illustration: Hector Tjupuru Burton/The University of Melbourne Art Collection
No More Give Away by Mervyn Rubuntja, 2024
In this painting Rubuntja transforms a ‘Give way’ road sign into a direct and uncompromising political statement that speaks to the history of dispossession faced by Aboriginal Australians. Both protest and declaration, Rubuntja’s words assert a firm resistance to exploitation and loss of land, culture and authority – especially at the hands of mining conglomerates that operate on unceded Indigenous land across the country. The ghost gum stands alone, a witness to what has been taken and to what must be protected for future generations.Illustration: Mervyn Rubuntja/The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Wirlumarra (Ghost gum) by
Wendy Hubert, 2024Hubert is a distinguished Yindjibarndi elder from the western Pilbara region, born on Gurruma Country. A teacher, linguist and artist, she has devoted her life to caring for her Country and keeping culture safe for future generations. She has travelled Country documenting language, law and sacred sites. She came to painting in 2017, surprising herself with a practice that became another form of recording and sharing knowledge. Her dynamic works are alive with the colours of the Pilbara – a continuous exchange between the artist and her Country.Illustration: Wendy Hubert
Ŋäṉarr - Tongue of Flame by Wanapati Yunupiŋu, 2025
Wanapati Yunupiŋu pioneered the practice of etching into stringybark with a rotary drill. This, his first etched stringybark, represents the flames that broke out of a men’s ceremonial ground at Biranybirany in the Waŋarr (time before morning), having been spread from Madarrpa Country by Bäru, the ancestral crocodile. A compelling feature is the darkened gnarl, which signifies the body of Bäru, who metamorphosed into fire.Illustration: Wanapati Yunupiŋu/The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Corymbia ficifolia by Jane E Brown, 2026
Brown’s research into the photography of eucalypt-lover Russell Grimwade, in particular his glass-plate negatives and carbon prints made between 1920-1930, resulted in a series of photographs of gum blossom and gumnuts. Brown’s deep knowledge of the history, chemistry and alchemy of photography led to experimentation with developing techniques. Remarkably, she has found a way to print her photographs using eucalyptus oil as the developing agent. Her series title, 1,8-Cineole, is the chemical name for eucalyptol, the primary compound in eucalyptus oil.Illustration: Jane E BrownExplore more on these topics
