Kids' Audio Guide: Interior of Burrangalong cavern

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Interior of Burrangalong cavern

A painting depicting a large cavern with a high ceiling; two people gather in the centre with a dog and one person is exploring.

Interior of Burrangalong [Abercrombie] Cavern, ca.1843-49 by Conrad Martens

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HARUKI_190923.mp3

Transcript

This is an oil painting of the Abercrombie caves, near Bathurst, painted in 1843-49 by Conrad Martens. When I first saw this painting, it made me stop and look at it. It was very dark and cold compared to most of the other pictures on display. As I got closer, the central light was what caught my eye. Can you find the 3 people with the dog? That was when I felt I had stepped into the painting.

The huge painting of the cavern makes me feel really small; it makes me realise that light and fire is extremely precious, and I couldn't survive without it. I felt like I was part of the group as they explored the cave, but I personally would stay close to the light because it is such an enormous, unknown place. It would be scary to get separated from the rest of the group in this cold, wet, place.

The artist, Conrad Martens, visited these caves. He made sketches, watercolours and completed the paintings in his studio. I think part of the reason it is such a powerful image is because Conrad Martens was there, working in the poor light. He would have been very aware of the contrast between darkness and light and between the scale of rocky cavern and the European visitors.

Conrad Martens has used the cave as a stage with the spotlight on the explorers. Martens also painted three more oil paintings of different views of this cave.

Curators/Speakers

Haruki