Bushwhacking and Clarke & Wolseley

For me these two sessions go together. There is a fair bit of cross pollination happening, with the bush the central inspiration for the two books by Watson and McDonald, and for the John Wolseley exhibition, which the Clarke & Wolseley talk was based on.

Don Watson and Roger McDonald talked about writing, inspiration and their 90-odd year old mothers, still baking scones and sponges for afternoon tea visitors. Both authors have reviewed and admired each others work, there was a palpable mutual respect at this session.

John Clarke and John Wolseley have a close friendship. This was "Two old mates having a yarn." There was no moderator at this session, just the two Johns talking to us, talking to each other, about painting, photography, satire and, of course about the bush.

John Wolseley is an Englishman. He came to Australia as an adult, and perhaps this is why he is filled with wonder about the landscape. He paints wildlife and landscape, and the bush becomes collaborator in some of the methods he uses. Abandoning a piece of paper in a charred landscape and letting the coal and the wind do some drawing before he elaborates on it, printing with the corpse of an albatross, or using frottage to document a woodworm's life cycle are just some examples of this.

John Clarke loves to photograph wildlife and landscape. Especially birds. He visits the bush regularly, often spending time with JW when he's in the country. Clarke was almost bashful about his photographs, but Wolseley's enthusiasm for them was contagious.Wolseley and Clarke observe the Landscape, they are in it and they 'collaborate' with it, documenting the wildlife and changes in the landscape. Clarke's photos and Wolseley's drawings of birds are stunning in their detail.

Watson and McDonald come from Australian farming stock. They have a slightly different perspective to Wolseley and Clarke when it come to the bush. They talked about the spirit of resilience, a certain toughness that is needed when you're dealing with enviromental extremes.  There was some gentle ribbing about 'Hill People' and Farmers with flat blocks of land. The emphasis was on character, what it really takes to live on the land in Australia. They write about the landscape, but the people in it are a crucial element.

The overwhelming similarity in these two sessions was the knowledge of the land, which all of the speakers had. This and a genuine love for the Australian landscape, taking care of it and preserving it, being as gentle as they could was very inspiring.