Eugene Von Guérard & Barrina South

WATCH THE FULL POEM HERE

EUGENE VON GUÉRARD, NORTH-EAST VIEW FROM THE NORTHERN TOP OF MOUNT KOSCIUSKO, 1863

Eugene von Guérard was born in Vienna, Austria and immigrated to Victoria, Australia in 1852 and was a prospector during the gold rush. Eugene returned to his previous career of painting by 1854 where he focused on the Australian landscape as the subject of his work. On an expedition to measure pressure changes in the weather at high altitudes, Eugene alongside a team of scientists and assistants journeyed to the peak of Mount Kosciuszko. Taking a western approach, measurements were used as a way of learning.
Eugene took notes in the form of a few quick sketches. He later in his Melbourne studio used the sketches as reference for North-east view from the northern top of Mount Kosciusko. Georg von Neumayer, a scientist that led the expedition recorded that the weather was ‘threatening’ and ‘unsettled’ and Eugene proclaimed, “that heavy storm is approaching”. The team were caught off guard and found themselves in the heart of the storm. This work of art provides an account of the events that day and a detailed account of the landscape but beyond this, Eugene’s intention was to capture the power and the grandeur of nature.

SHIFTING – BARRINA SOUTH, BARKINDJI PEOPLE

Barrina South lives in Queanbeyan NSW on Ngunnawal/Ngambri land and works in the protection and conservation of sites with cultural significance to First Nations people. This often influences Barrina’s writing centering topics and themes affecting Country, culture and history. Mount Kosciusko is known as Kunama Namadgi to the Ngario Peoples and holds strong cultural significance to many First Nations, who would visit annually to collect bogon moths. For Barrina, and First Nations cultural knowledge holders, learning from place is through all senses. Barrina described her initial interaction with North-east view from the northern top of Mount Kosciusko disorientating, that the scene was unfamiliar. Barrina describes that it wasn’t until she made the decision to experience the environment within the work of art through her senses, that she was able to form her response which became Shifting. For First Nations people, connection to place has ancestral significance. A sacred connection to Country, encompassing land, waterways and airways, what is above and below ground.

PROVOCATION

Describe through your senses the feeling of being within the environment of North-east view from the northern top of Mount Kosciusko

What sense described in Shifting do you feel the strongest physical connection?

When we look at the work of art alongside the poem, can you see the topics of Country, culture and history?

What techniques has Barrina used to draw attention to these topics?

PROMPT

Barrina describes viewing a work of art is about engaging senses and emotions, it is a private interaction, almost meditative.
Read the poem again, this time making note of the times where Barrina has used the five senses, moments of feeling, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling.

If you were to focus on the sense of sight, imagine you’re zooming in and out of the scene and scanning across the landscape. What different details are emerging as you take a closer look, and how does your perception change with a broader view.
Build upon your foundational description by adding in an additional sense.

CREATE

From the prompt above, relating to your senses, write a call and response poem.
Choose a call to stay the same, alternating your response.
Your poem might look like this;
I see an ocean in the distance, I can taste the salt in the air.
I see something on the horizon, I can feel anticipation in me building.

CREATE

Barrina South used their senses to engage in their environment. Eugene Von Guerard used sketches as note taking to form a finished composition. For this activity, take a pencil and paper to an outdoor area. Take a moment to connect through you senses to place. Start sketching what you see.

Move around your chosen landscape and pick some textures or forms you find interesting. Create a more detailed account of specific features like trees, vegetation, and built structures. You should now have multiple sketches, arrange your sketches to create one larger work of art.

Now you have the knowledge to form your own ekphrastic poem.
Select an artwork and form your own vivid expansion!

This Learning Resource is presented in partnership with Red Room Poetry as part of Poetry Month 2023.