Looking-into-Leichhardt_catalogue_Oct2013_Gannon+friends

XI FIRES AND FARMED EMUS August 1845

Wheeling around the southern base of the Gulf of Carpentaria then moving north, the party, which was still recovering from their earlier injuries, met up with many aboriginal communities. Leichhardt described 'systematic grass burnings' as part of an agrarian practice. On 13th August he observed “…a barricade or hedge of dry sticks, leaving only one opening to allow the emus to approach the water…” . Leichhardt wrote how they 'parleyed with the natives' . His diary portrays an ordered and interesting indigenous society.

80 x 120 cm oil on board 2013

Leichhardt's 1844-45 route

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