Artist/Gallery notes
I live in the Darling Ranges of Western Australia in the Shire of Mundaring. In the 1890s there were great gold rushes in the Kalgoorlie Region 330 miles (530 kms) east of here. The area has very low rainfall and the provision of water for an exploding population became a major problem. It was decided to damn an area near here to create a huge lake and build a pipeline through uninhibited bush to take the water to the goldfields. CY O'Connor was the engineer in charge of the project. Inevitably there were overruns and O'Connor was falsely accused of corruption by the newspapers. Consequently he road his horse into the sea and shot himself on the 10th of March, 1902. The pipeline was a great success and today runs not far from my house to supply water to the mining centres of the Goldfields. This painting started with the Mundaring Weir Hotel and the bush. I felt the wild tangle of the landscape in the red setting sun. The painting became filled with movement and colour. Then it told me there had to be a horse with its rider, standing still, watching, waiting. I found out recently that CY O’Connor used the hotel as his office so perhaps the man on the horse is he…or his ghost…or perhaps not. I can’t tell you as I don’t know. Only the painting can tell you that.