Another COVID Experience

Over recent weeks we have heard a lot about state borders and restrictions. The limitations placed upon us have created significant consternation and, in some cases, considerable hardship. This has fortunately not impacted upon me and I continue to live the life of the ‘happy hermit’ in sequestered Melbourne. However, I have become rather interested in the border between Victoria and New South Wales and, in particular, the Murray River.

The Murray River is one of Australia’s major river systems and one of the world’s longest navigable rivers stretching over 2,700 kilometres from the mountains of the Great Dividing Range in north-eastern Victoria to near Adelaide in South Australia. It is a central part of Indigenous culture with over 40 Aboriginal nations in the Murray-Darling Basin and, since the 19^th century, has also been a busy trading route for colonial settlers.

Many sites of Indigenous Dreaming significance are located along the river and its formation is described as due to an ancestral hero, Ngurunderi, chasing an enormous cod, Pondi, from a stream in central New South Wales. As it fled, Pondi created the Murray with its flailing tail. A number of Indigenous artists have used the river and its surrounding wildlife as sources of inspiration for their art. In particular, the painted stories of Ian Abdulla; the woven work of Yvonne Koolmatrie; the photography of Nici Cumpston; and the animal inspired art of Trevor Turbo Brown – all represented in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria.

The first Europeans to encounter the river were Hamilton Hume and William Hovell who crossed the river in 1824 close to where Albury is today.  Originally named the Hume River, a later exploration by Charles Sturt in 1830, re-named the waterway the Murray River in honour of the then British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Sir George Murray. Early settlers included the explorer and surveyor, James Collins Hawker, the superintendent of Yatala Labour Prison, E. B. Scott, and explorer (and later controversial Governor of Jamaica), Edward John Eyre.

Due to its location and potential usefulness for transport, in 1850 the South Australian government offered a bonus of £4,000 to the owners of the first two steamers that successfully navigated the Murray from Goolwa to the junction of the Darling River. Coming from a shipbuilding family, and having sailed extensively from the age of 14, Scottish born, Francis Cadell took up the challenge in 1853 and his steamer Lady Augusta (named after the wife of the South Australian governor) made the journey there and back between August and October that year. Later Cadell would use other steamers to transport the wool from Riverina squatters and be instrumental in forming the River Murray Steam Navigation Company in 1854.

In 1858, the German explorer, soldier, engineer and zoologist, William Blandowski, explored the lower reaches of the Murray and Darling rivers and compiled a list of birds and mammals. His expeditions were documented by the artists who accompanied him – Gustav Mützel and Gerard Krefft – and provided early documentation of Indigenous culture, economy, activities, initiation ceremonies, combat, sickness and death. These illustrations formed the basis of the ‘Island’ and ‘AUSTRALIA’ series of works by Brook Andrew.

One of the earliest photographic depictions of the Murray River comes from the photographer Charles Bayliss. Bayliss was born in England in 1850 and came to Australia with his parents at the age of four. In his mid-teens he met the travelling photographer, illusionist and illustrator, Beaufoy Merlin, who was photographing houses and families in the new colony. Bayliss became Merlin’s assistant and together they travelled and photographed extensively throughout Victoria and New South Wales. While photographing the goldfields around Hill End in New South Wales, the two men met Bernhardt Holtermann who was a successful prospector. He supported the development of their company – the American and Australasian Photographic Company – and employed Bayliss and Merlin to produce photographs to advertise the colony and encourage migrants.

Despite dying of ‘galloping pneumonia’ at the age of 47 years, Bayliss left approximately 3,500 glass plate photographic negatives to Holtermann. These form the basis of the Holtermann Collection which is in the Mitchell Library in Sydney. The National Gallery of Victoria has 66 photographic works by Bayliss in the collection and several of these provide glimpses of the Murray River from his album ‘Views of scenery on the Darling and Lower Murray during the flood of 1886’.

Trevor Turbo Brown from the Latje Latje community spent his early years in Mildura and explored the wildlife on the banks of the Murray River. Intellectually disabled and abandoned by his family at a young age, Turbo described his predilection for painting animals as they were his only friends.  

Around the time Cadell was steaming up the Murray, and Blandowski was exploring the river, local retrievers were being bred to fetch waterfowl and for later use as protection dogs on paddle steamers and duck punts. By the early 1890s, the Murray River Curly Coated Retriever (or Murray River Duck Dog) would become Australia’s only homegrown retriever. While the breeding history is now lost, the breed may have connections with Irish Water Spaniels who were popular as gundogs in the 1800s, or originated from American Water Spaniels brought to Australia from America to work on the steamers.

I have finally made it to the point of today’s blogpost. Stimulated by Wendy Hughes Chuck’s post on ‘dogs in art’, having time at home to train, and refusing to allow the ‘cat side’ of my nature to take hold, I now have a 10 week old Murray River Retriever puppy called ‘Marty’ as my new COVID canine companion. His name comes from the central character in the Emmy award winning Netflix miniseries ‘Ozark’. Marty Byrde (in Ozark) is known for his loyalty, diligence, intellect, resourcefulness and go-getter personality (features of this breed). The name ‘Marty’ also includes the word ‘art’ sandwiched between the letters ‘My’. In my mind, Marty is the quintessential ‘COVID phenomenon’ combining Netflix bingeing, home-based activities, and border issues’. I have also discovered – through one of those time-filling internet quizzes – that having a dog will increase my longevity by two years.

Many of you have noticed the reduced number of posts in recent days. This is due to the travails of having a puppy enter my previously well-ordered life. As I adjust to broken sleep, hourly exercise, house-training schedules, and constant vigilance expect normal posting to resume in 2021!