“Dalroy’s Travelling Mob – Mary Dalroy Driving the Horse & Sulky, Queensland” – SOLD
Detail photos for this Artwork
Hugh Sawrey is known for his representations of life on the land, inspired by his direct experiences and memories of having lived and worked on properties in outback Australia. A charming and historic trait of many of Sawrey’s paintings is his descriptive titles that often reference the people and places portrayed in this paintings. In this nostalgic, character-filled oil he portrays Mary Dalroy, a farmer’s wife from Queensland driving a horse and sulky whilst her husband walks ahead guiding their flock of sheep as they journey under gum trees & past fences.
Another endearing characteristic of Sawrey’s work is that he never forgot the contribution of the women who helped run farms and properties. He honours and acknowledges their hard work, often including them in paintings to convey the team work between husband and wife to run properties, keep homes, care for children, and manage livestock.
Sawrey had a very dear relationship with his mother Jane who was widowed when her husband George Sawrey died in a timber milling accident at Buderim when Hugh was a young boy. Sawrey’s mother then worked as a shearer’s cook travelling from property to property with Hugh in tow. When Sawrey was 14 years old he left school and for many years eked out a frugal existence working on rural properties as a shearer, stockman and drover before he gained success as an artist. A touching story is told of how the proceeds that came from one of Sawrey’s first painting sales was used by Hugh to buy warm blankets for his mother, who had previously been sleeping under potato sacks.
