Rosalie Plains

After crossing the Dividing Range at Cooyar, Martens headed for Rosalie Plains on the Darling Downs. At the time of Martens’s visit, the Rosalie Plains run was leased by business partners Hope and Ramsay.

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Martens, Conrad
England/Australia 1801–78
Bottle tree, Rosalie Plains – Ramsey Esq., Feb. 16th 1852 1852*
Pencil
18.4 x 26.7cm
Collection: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

* Martens's orginal spelling retained

Like other European travellers, Martens was struck by the extraordinary appearance of the Bottle tree (Brachychiton rupestris). Both Indigenous and European people used the tree as a source of water in times of drought.


Martens, Conrad
England/Australia 1801–78
Bottle tree 1851
Pencil
24.7 x 16.9cm
Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
Acquired before 1954

This study may have been made at the station of Macquarie McDonald at Dugandan near Boonah. Bottle trees still grow wild in the Boonah district.


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