Artists statement

This is a conventional watercolour. This fine old farm with its beautiful white barn was a landmark in South Morang until its demolition in the late 1970's. It was one of the first subjects in the area that I painted in the early 1950's. I later learnt from Alan Sumner, friend, painter and onetime head of the National Gallery School, that he constantly painted the same subject, as no doubt did other artists before him.
I was quite upset about its demise, with the erection of a service station on the site. The two red gums are still there. In view of the quickening development of the area in which many historic landmarks, buildings and landscapes were disappearing, I painted the picture in my earlier more picturesque style purely to serve as a historical record of another lost legacy of the Plenty Valley. The early afternoon light and shadows through the red gums which frame the barn and outbuildings are all painted with a direct fluency on wet paper, to which the crisper touches were added after the initial stages were dry. The colour scheme evokes a typical summer's day and is uniquely Australian.

Historical information

Part of the John and Gillian Borrack Federation Bequest, donated to the City of Whittlesea in December 2001 by Gillian and John Borrack

Inscriptions & markings

John Borrack 86
The Farm, Sth Morang