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Wild Tropical Jungle
Ellis Rowan, 1905 By 1888 Ellis Rowan had become the most recognised painter in Australia
and was rapidly becoming a household name. That year she was awarded first
place for Chrysanthemums and second place for Marguerites
in the Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition. Although they were
large, competent oil paintingsa medium in which she had not exhibited
beforethere was a storm of protest from her male rivals. Rowan had produced these oil paintings during the winter of 1887, when she had made the first of six trips to Queensland. Overwhelmedby the luscious colour and succulence of the tropical vegetation, she did some of her best massed compositions.
Ellis Rowan, 1905 So began her account of her fascination for the exotic plant and insect life of tropical Queensland. Her vivid descriptions reveal the eye of an artist, while her tales of near disaster satisfied her need for adventure. She suffered bruises, a black eye and the occasional fever, complained of stinging nettles, mosquito bites and sunburn. Amongst other things in her quest, she dangled by ropes over precipices, defied turbulent seas, a bolting horse and a hair-raising trip by rail.
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