Public Lecture
‘A country of enchantments’: Scottish Observations of Colonial Australia
Dr Lizanne Henderson, University of Glasgow
Thomas WATLING Scottish, b.1762, Australia 1792–1797, d. c.1814 Scarlet and Green Parrot (1792-1797) watercolour on paper 21.7 x 20.1 cm Natural History Museum, London
This public lecture will focus on the observations, perceptions and representations of the natural world by Thomas Watling (1762-c.1814), the Scottish born artist and engraver who was transported to Botany Bay for forgery in 1792. This will be done by investigating the late eighteenth-century intellectual and artistic contexts surrounding Watling’s life and works and the ways in which these influences might have shaped his opinions of Australia. Taking a multi- and interdisciplinary perspective, the lecture will ask, and attempt to answer, whether or not Watling should be regarded as an artist or an illustrator? Though not always flattering in his written descriptions of his host nation Watling, like so many of his countrymen and women, was impressed by the sheer unusualness of the place; “I may say . . . the whole appearance of nature must be striking in the extreme to the adventurer, and at first this will seem to him to be a country of enchantments”. The extent to which Watling’s sense of ‘enchantment’ was overtaken by his drive for scientific observation and documentation will be assessed in this lecture.
This free public lecture is the keynote address of the symposium accompanying the exhibition For Auld Lang Syne: images of Scottish Australia from First Fleet to Federation, at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.
Date: 6:30pm, Friday 9th May 2014
Venue: Theatre A, Elisabeth Murdoch Building, University of Melbourne, Parkville (NB Please note the symposium will take place in Ballarat).
Scottish Australia Symposium
The Scottish Australia Symposium will take place from the 9-11 May in Ballarat. It will bring together a range of speakers on topics related to the exhibition and on the relationship between Scotland and Australia.
The full Symposium Program is available here.
Parallel sessions through both days, commencing at 9.30am and including an exhibition tour
Symposium Venue: Arts Academy, Federation University Australia Ballarat Campus, Camp Street, Ballarat
Dates: 9-11 May, 2014
All sessions of the Scottish-Australia Symposium, including the Keynote Address are free but registration is requested as space is limited.
Enquiries call 5320 5858 or artgal@ballarat.vic.gov.au
The Scottish Australia Symposium is presented by the Art Gallery of Ballarat in association with University of Melbourne Arts Faculty and the Arts Academy, Federation University Australia
Part of the Helen Macpherson Smith Schedule of Public Programs for the exhibition For Auld Lang Syne: Images of Scottish Australia from First Fleet to Federation at the Art Gallery of Ballarat until Sunday 27 July.