sacred painted tree trunks stand upright in a dark room

Eucalyptusdom

The exhibition took its title from a 1930s text by Edward F Swain, one of Australia’s earliest conservationists, and was called Eucalyptusdom. It reckoned with our cultural history and our ever-changing relationship with the eucalypt.

The exhibition presented more than 400 objects from the Powerhouse Collection, alongside 17 works that were newly commissioned for the event. These works were created by creative practitioners in the fields of design, architecture, film, applied arts, and performance.

Large Print Guide

eucalyptusdom title sits on a wall in a neon green light

A tall white curtain hangs with patterns of foliage seen through the transparent fabric. A blurred silhouetted figures stands in front.

Four screens with images of trees and the first two with text overlaid. To the right a large slab on wood stands upright with white text written on it.

A collection of timbres in different brown shades and shapes laid out on a table with more sitting above on a shelf.

A glass pyramid seen side on with a glass globe inside filled half way with yellow oil.

Thin glass tubes, one with a bulb shape with yellow oil inside.

Rectangle planks of timber stand in series. The planks have writing to indicate the specimen type.

Four pieces of timbre, three rectangular and one circular stand on a shelf.

Four large water colour paintings of eucalyptus leaves. A blurred figure stands in front of the far right image.

A collection of timbre furniture including a chair, pillars, and engravings.

The sculpture is comprised of two parts - Wunhakali (Other Side) and Black Light House (Gurrnjann Djarratawun Wanga). Copper elements are held together with copper wire. Sculpture requires 240V power GPO.

Eucalyptusdom explored the eucalypt’s emergence as a symbol of Australian identity in post-Federation Australia. The exhibition drew on the museum’s comprehensive design and applied arts collection, ceramics, furniture, and a sledge made of spotted gum that went with Sir Douglas Mawson to Antarctica.

‘We have subconscious glimpses of inner qualities in these trees and they lay a momentary spell upon us, but there remains yet to come an acceptance of the full glory of the Eucalyptusdom which is the especial heritage of this stranger land.’

Edward Harold Fulcher Swain, NSW Forestry Commission, 1938