Title
On the wallaby track
1896
Artist
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Details
- Other Title
- In the bush
- Date
- 1896
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 122.0 x 223.5 cm stretcher; 119.5 x 221.0 sight edge; 176.5 x 278.0 x 10.0 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r. corner, brown oil "F McCubbin/ 1896".
- Credit
- Purchased 1897
- Location
- South Building, ground level, Grand Courts
- Accession number
- 572
- Copyright
- Artist information
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Frederick McCubbin
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
With an evident empathy for rural labouring life, and a nationalist message, this much-admired painting by a principal member of the Heidelberg group was painted close to the artist's Melbourne home, using his family as models. Key influences for Frederick McCubbin at this time included the academic naturalism of Bastien-Lepage and the new focus on everyday subjects by leading French Barbizon school artists Corot and Millet. The title of the painting - 'On the wallaby track' - was a term used for itinerant workers roaming the bush on the fringes of properties looking for work.
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Audio
On the wallaby track - Frederick McCubbin 4:21
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Exhibition history
Shown in 6 exhibitions
Eighteenth Annual Exhibition of the Art Society of New South Wales (1897), Society Rooms, Union Chambers, Sydney, 11 Sep 1897 -
Exhibition of Australian art in London (1898), Grafton Galleries, London, 02 Apr 1898–31 Jul 1898
100 years of Australian painting (1948), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 19 Apr 1948–17 May 1948
A retrospective exhibition of Australian painting, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 25 Sep 1953–25 Oct 1953
Australian Impressionism, Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne, 31 Mar 2007–08 Jul 2007
Grand Courts collection rehang, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov 2021–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 48 publications
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A.C., Age, 'Australian artists of the past: Frederick McCubbin', Melbourne, 26 Nov 1932.
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Sydney, 1972, 86 (colour illus.).
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Leigh Astbury, City bushmen: the Heidelberg school and the rural mythology, Melbourne, 1985, 153 (illus.). plate no. 25
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Leigh Astbury, Sunlight and shadow: Australian impressionist painters 1880-1900, Rushcutters Bay, 1989, 191 (colour illus.). plate no. 141
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Leigh Astbury, La Trobe Library Journal [vol. 6, no. 24], 'The art of Frederick McCubbin and the impact of the first war', pg. 79-83, Melbourne, Oct 1979, 82.
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Leigh Astbury, Australia 1888: a journal for the study of Australian history centred on the year 1888, 'Frederick McCubbin: the spirit of the pioneers', pg. 26-58, Melbourne, 1982, 38-40, 43, 45.
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Okko Boer, Masters of the Heidelberg School, Leichhardt, 1998, 70 (colour illus.). plate no. 66
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Susan Bruce, A treasury of Australian bush painting, Adelaide, 1979, 34 (colour illus.), 36. plate no. 26
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Edmund Capon AM, OBE and Jan Meek (Editors), Portrait of a Gallery, 'Australian Art in the Old Courts', pg. 24-37, Sydney, 1984, 33 (colour illus.).
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Sheena Coupe (Editor), Frontier Country, Sydney, 1989, 130 (illus.).
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Ann Galbally, Frederick McCubbin, Melbourne, 1981, 89, 93 (colour illus.), 97, 102, 110. plate no. 18
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Dr Ann Galbally, This Australia, 'Classic painting: Frederick McCubbin', pg. 74-75, Canberra, 1982, 74-75 (illus.).
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James Gleeson, Impressionist painters 1881-1930, St Kilda, 1971, 88, 89 (colour illus.), 90-91. plate no. 20
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David Hansen, Australian Impressionism, 'National Naturalism', pg. 281-287, Melbourne, 2007, 284, 345, 289 (colour illus.). cat.no. 15.9
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Ursula Hoff, Meanjin, 'The phases of McCubbin's art', pg. 301-306, Carlton, Spring 1956, 303, 304.
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Jeanette Hoorn (Editor), Strange women: essays in art and gender, Melbourne, 1994, 102 (illus.).
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Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Painting and Sculpture', pg. 102-181, Sydney, 1999, 122 (colour illus.).
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Lionel Lindsay, 150 years of Australian art, Sydney, 1938. cat.no. 17
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Andrew Mackenzie, Frederick McCubbin 1855-1917: 'The Proff' and his art, Australia, 1990, 88, 89 (colour illus.), 90, 91. plate no. 23
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Andrew MacKenzie, Christie's Australia; Frederick McCubbin: Bush Idyll 1893, Sydney, 17th August, 1998, 'Frederick McCubbin (1855-1917)', pg. 11-15, South Yarra, 1998, 14 (colour Illus.), 11, 14. fig.no. 4
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Terence Maloon and Ursula Prunster, Art & the West, 'Mythmakers', Sydney, 1987, (colour illus.). AUS 4 card.
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Alan McCulloch, The golden age of Australian painting - Impressionism and the Heidelberg school, Melbourne, 1969, 91 (illus.).
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John McDonald, Art of Australia. Vol 1: Exploration to Federation, 'Individual and national feeling', pg. 545-610, Sydney, 2008, 568-569 (colour illus.).
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Suzanne McDonnell, The Weekend Australian, 'Artist's mystery pioneer revealed', pg. 4, Sydney, 06 Jul 1991-07 Jul 1991, 4.
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Margaret Meagher (Editor), State of the arts, Sydney, Dec 1991-Mar 1992, 36.
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Sue Miles, Australia: Studies of Society and Environment, Sydney, 1996, 162.
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Hal Missingham, A retrospective exhibition of Australian painting, Sydney, 1953. cat.no. 53
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William Moore, The story of Australian art from the earliest known art of the continent to the art of today (Vol. 1), 'National life', pg. 122-152, Sydney, 1934, 134 (illus.).
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National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Catalogue of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales 1899, Sydney, 1899, 46 (sepia illus.). cat.no. 250; Oil Paintings-Australian, titled 'On the Wallaby Track'
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Belinda Oxley, Read-to-go Art Picture pack, Glebe, 2000, (colour illus.). card no. 2
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Barry Pearce, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Introduction', pg. 10-16, Sydney, 2000, 13, 37, 69 (colour illus.), 302.
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Barry Pearce, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian', pg. 13-35, Sydney, 1988, 18 (illus.).
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Laura Pia, Look, 'Seeing art takes more than looking: Audio description tours now at the Gallery', pg. 12-13, Sydney, Jul 2009, 13 (colour illus.).
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Ron Radford, McCubbin: last impressions 1907-17, 'Introduction: Fredrick McCubbin 1855-1917', pg. 9-20, Canberra, 2009, 10, 18, 36, 43.
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Bernard Smith, 100 years of Australian painting, 'Foreword', pg. 2-4, Sydney, 1948, 5. cat.no. 9
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Bernard William Smith, Australian painting 1788-1970, South Melbourne, 1971, 88, 119.
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Bernard William Smith, A catalogue of Australian oil paintings in the National Art Gallery of New South Wales 1875-1952, Sydney, 1953, 138.
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William Splatt and Barbara Burton, 100 masterpieces of Australian painting, Adelaide, 1973, 88 (colour illus.), 89. plate no. 41
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William Splatt and Susan Bruce, Australian impressionist painters: a pictorial history of the Heidelberg school, Windsor, 1981, 80.
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Jill Sykes, Look, 'Art, business and a Vatican contact', pg. 54, Sydney, Feb 2007, 54 (colour illus.).
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Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales: Minutes 1.9.1891-4.5.1898, Sydney, 1891-1898. 7 September 1897, 15 December 1897
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Bridget Whitelaw, The art of Frederick McCubbin, Melbourne, 1991, 60 (colour illus.), 61 (colour illus. detail), 133, 134. cat.no. 20
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Donald Williams, In our own image: the story of Australian art, Sydney, 1995, 60 (colour illus.).
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Frederick McCubbin - Whisperings in wattle boughs, Geelong, 2021, 14 (colour illus.). Fig.3
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Editor Unknown (Editor), The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 09 Sep 1897.
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Studio, London, Feb 1896, 69 (illus.). titled 'In the bush'
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Editor Unknown (Editor), Frederick McCubbin exhibition: to mark the centenary of the artist's birth in 1855, Melbourne, 1955. cat.no. 12
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Editor Unknown (Editor), The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, 10 Sep 1897.
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