EUGENE VON GUERARD (1811-1901)
Mount William or Mount Duwil (1,167 m - 3,829 ft)
Australia (Victoria)
1. In Mount William and part of the Grampian in West Victoria, 1865, National Gallery of Victoria
2. In Mount William from Mount Dryden, 1857 , oil on canvas, Art Gallery of Western Australia
The mountain
Mount William also called Mount Duwil ( (1,167 m - 3,829 ft) is a mountain of the Grampians Mountain Range, located within the Grampians National Park (which is he highest point), in the Australian state of Victoria. The mountain is situated approximately 250 kilometres (160 mi) west-north-west of Melbourne on the eastern edge of the national park, approximately 22 kilometres (14 mi) drive from Halls Gap.
Sir Thomas Mitchell reached the summit with a group of explorers in 1836. The first settler in the area was Horatio Wills, who established a sheep run at Mount William in 1840, and named nearby Mount Ararat, after which the town is named. His son, cricketer and Australian rules football pioneer Tom Wills, grew up as a lone white child among the Djab wurrung Aboriginal tribes of Mount William.
A sealed service road continues to the summit, but is not accessible by vehicle to the general public.
It will take a person approximately 45 mins to walk. No permit is required to climb the mountain.
Source:
- Grampians National Park
The painter
Johann Joseph Eugene von Guerard was an Austrian-born artist, active in Australia from 1852 to 1882. Known for his finely detailed landscapes in the tradition of the Düsseldorf school of painting, he is represented in Australia's major public galleries, and is referred to in the country as Eugene von Guerard. In 1852 von Guerard arrived in Victoria, Australia, determined to try his luck on the Victorian goldfields. As a gold-digger he was not very successful, but he did produce a large number of intimate studies of goldfields life, quite different from the deliberately awe-inspiring landscapes for which he was later to become famous. Realizing that there were opportunities for an artist in Australia, he abandoned the diggings and was soon undertaking commissions recording the dwellings and properties of wealthy pastoralists...
- More about Eugene Von Gerard life and works