Mel Crawford (Canadian, B. 1925) "Australia" Signed lower right. Original Mixed Media on Cold Press Illustration Board.
Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation.
This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood First Day Cover of the U.N. 20c Australia Flags of the U.N. Series stamp issued September 21, 1984.
A nursery song playfully describes the kookaburra of Australia: "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree ... merry merry king of the bush is he." And indeed, spying many of Australia's animal life, one would think that the creatures are out of a fairy tale. The kookaburra's "old gum tree" is probably the eucalyptus tree ... valued by the hardwood timber industry. The leaves of eucalypti provide oils useful both medically and industrially ... and form a major part of the diet of the koala. The koala, like most of the mammals of Australia, is a marsupial ... it bears live young, and then carries them in a pouch. Two exceptions to this rule are the echidna and platypus, egg-laying mammals known as monotremes ... and they are the world's only known monotremes. The creatures of Australia seem strange to the rest of the world, because the continent of Australia has been isolated from the rest of the world for over fifty million years. Another example of this difference is the Aborigines -- their name derived from the Latin ab origine, meaning from the beginning -- the first inhabitants of the continent. Currently, they are just a small minority of the nation, as this Stone Age people of simple nomadic hunters found it very hard to learn the ways of the modern Europeans who settled Australia just two hundred years ago. Today, the nation of Australia is quite remarkable, because it has grown from a primitive land into a modern, industrial country capable of competing well in international business.
Image Size: 14 x 12 in.
Overall Size: 17 x 14.75 in.
Unframed.
(B99053)
Condition
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