Ben Lomond from Mr Talbot’s Property – four men catching opposums 

John Glover's painting offers a vista of Ben Lomond with figures engaged in catching possums, inviting us to ponder the symbols embedded in this Australian landscape. The trees, with their unique branching patterns, stand as silent witnesses, evoking the ancient forests of classical Arcadia. Yet here, they are transplanted to a new world, echoing the European desire to find paradise anew. The act of catching possums by the men reminds us of ancestral hunting rituals. Hunting is deeply tied to human survival, but it also signifies the assertion of dominance over nature. The interplay between the figures and the landscape mirrors the complex relationship between humanity and nature, a dialectic that has haunted artists and philosophers across centuries. Glover captures not just a scene, but the emotional tension of inhabiting a land both familiar and foreign. This painting reminds us that landscapes are never just landscapes; they are repositories of memory and emotion.