Mallee Scrub. River Murray and indigenous Australians engraving c1874

$110.00

Murray River Mallee Scrub, south-east Australia. Antique print. Brush-turkey egg-hunting? In south-east of South Australia, Eucalyptus dumosa (called mallee by natives) covers over 200,000 hectares.

Original steel engraving by William Forrest after a drawing by Nicholas Chevalier (1828-1902) for Australia Illustrated published in London circa 1874 by Virtue & Company. N. Chevalier was Russian-born. He arrived in Australia in 1855. Chevalier's brother was manager of the vineyards at Bontharambo. Chevalier worked as an illustrator in Melbourne, while he developed his skill in landscape painting. The engravings for this publication are some of the finest illustrations of colonial times in Australia. They provide a wonderful record of typical Australian cities and landscapes.

This engraving has fine later hand-colour and wide margins, as published. Page size is 215 x 270mm (8 1/2 x 10 5/8 inches). Engraving measures 120 x 183mm (4 3/4 x 7 1/4 inches). In fair condition despite slight age-soiling towards page edges.