Wild Australian Art - the Field Notes of Australian Artist Peter Brown

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Roo Watching

As an Australian artist whose mission it is to paint wildlife, or at least feature wildlife as an incidental part of my landscape paintings, it's only natural that I should turn to kangaroos and wallabies for inspiration. After all, they're immediately suggestive of the Australian outback as well as being relatively easy to find and observe.

Within the Cape Range National Park in Western Australia which Sandi and I have visited for the past three years, red and grey kangaroos and euros are plentiful to say the least. Driving along the main park access road is a risky proposition from mid-afternoon onwards when they emerge from the shade of the stunted shrubs which dot the landscape to seek out succulent leaves and grasses to eat. The last thing we want to do is accidentally kill or injure one, not to mention sustain potentially serious damage to our vehicle as a result, so when we do head out to photograph them, we're careful to allow plenty of time for travel to our intended destination. After the light has faded and further photography is impractical, we're resigned to a slow crawl back to camp, scanning the roadsides constantly for kangaroo-like shapes in the headlights and ready to stop and grant right of way as often as we need to to ensure their well-being as well as our own.

The rewards are great though and, as the shadows lengthen and the landscape begins to glow red-gold, it's often possible to approach them closely on foot. To make our task less challenging, they're inquisitive creatures; even when we've crossed some invisible line and they feel the need to put a little distance between themselves and us, it's often the case that after a few leisurely hops, they'll stop and turn once more to see what on earth we're up to. Joeys recently out of their mothers' pouches are amusing to watch and look as uncoordinated as human teenagers as they follow their mothers' example and make their own clumsy retreat.

What appears to be a barren landscape is in fact home to many species, some of which can be found mingling with the roos and euros as they too emerge from shelter to feed. Short-beaked echidnas are commonly seen foraging for ants late in the afternoon while emus can be seen at any time of the day. Wedge-tailed eagles and buzzards circle overhead or survey the landscape from a vantage point up on the escarpment. Rabbits, feral cats, foxes and feral goats are plentiful if unwelcome inhabitants. Dingoes, although taking a toll on smaller creatures, have been a part of the landscape for long enough to be thought of as a defacto native species. We've not seen one yet, but have often seen evidence of their presence in the form of tracks.

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