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John Glover
The ninth exhibition in the Australian Collection Focus series addresses one of the most significant colonial paintings in the Art Gallery of New South Wales�s collection, John Glover�s Natives on the Ouse River, Van Diemen�s Land.

Painted in 1838, this work depicts the Tasmanian Aboriginal people within an idyllic environment apparently untouched by European colonisation. By the time Glover arrived in Tasmania the reality for the indigenous Palawa people could not have been more different as their population had been decimated and most had been removed from their land.

Soon after his arrival, Glover sketched the people of the Ouse River and Oyster Bay regions, who had responded ferociously to European intrusion and were the last significant group removed from the settled districts of Tasmania.

This Focus exhibition addresses the artist�s development of the work within its context, and in the light of current re-evaluations of Tasmanian art in recognition of Aboriginal history. One such investigation is Driving Black Home, a recent work by contemporary Tasmanian artist Julie Gough, which is installed as part of this exhibition.

The exhibition and publication will feature John Glover�s preparatory sketches for Natives on the Ouse River, Van Diemen�s Land and a contemporaneous map showing the areas of white settlement, and the property of �Cawood� where Glover completed a preparatory sketch for the landscape. A map of Trowunna, or Aboriginal Tasmania, will demonstrate the regions of the nomadic Palawa people and a radically different conception of place.

Each Australian Collection Focus Series exhibition focuses on a significant work or works in the Gallery�s Australian collection, and presents to the public the curator�s comprehensive evaluation and the results of recent research. The Australian Collection Focus Series is generously sponsored by ABN AMRO Rothschild.

Floor talk: Sunday April 1 at 1.30pm
Julie Gough will speak about her installation Driving Black Home 2000.
On view:Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery Road
The Domain, Sydney 2000
Telephone:(02) 9225 1744 or recorded information
(02) 9225 1790
Hours:7 days a week 10am to 5pm
(closed Easter Friday and Christmas Day)
Admission:Free of Charge
Media Information and Interviews:Eva Choc, Press Office
telephone 02 9225 1734
email evac@ag.nsw.gov.au