Toil and Thunder

Description

Limited Edition of 150 Reproductions of each of 5 sizes, 750 in total Only

Situated high on top of a steep hill to the west of the town site of Mount Britton are two very deep mine shafts, both are said to drop vertically for over 150 feet; and a third shaft, now fallen in, tunnels into the western slope below the second shaft.

These are the long abandoned Jessie Perry gold mines. One can imagine the miners’ long steep walk to the top of the hill before they started the day’s work at the summit and the long weary climb down in the evening. But when they weren’t working below the surface what a splendid view they had all around, with the mountains towering over the township of Mount Britton nestled in the valley to the east and the vast open plains stretching away to the west, and to the south-west the solitary and fortress-like Mount Fort Cooper dominating the plains.

In this painting a bullock team is toiling up the steep slope to the Jessie Perry mines, pulling an empty ore wagon, while in the distance a storm has broken over the plains as it nears Mount Fort Cooper, and there is the smell of approaching rain. On our visit to these mines this panorama with the storm presented itself,- minus the bullock team of course – and I determined then and there to do this painting.