I was delighted to be selected as an Artist-in-the-Park at The Territory Wildlife Park. It has provided invaluable opportunities to observe and interact with the animals and plants of the park as well as their zookeeper carers. Assisting in the  socialisation programme of three dingo puppies, getting to know some of the birds at the Flight Deck, being clambered over by tiny Savannah Gliders and having my camera bag thoroughly inspected by Boris the Spectacled Hare-Wallaby were among some of the highlights!

Visiting the same animals multiple times permits insights into their individual characters and personalities and I hope I have managed to capture some of that in my work.

So many animal and plant populations are in decline all over the planet and the outlook for their futures is  grim. Whilst many of us are painfully aware of this fact I feel that it is not always accorded the importance that I think it deserves. In addition, the plight of the individual may become somewhat lost when speaking about the plight of the species.

I hope the detailed nature of my artwork and the stories behind some of the animals and plants I have portrayed inspires others to stop and look a little more closely at the natural world around us and appreciate each individual animal or plant rather more.

The majority of  the original artwork created for this exhibition was completed using professional grade coloured pencils. I have chosen to exhibit them as Acrylic Glass prints as this imparts an almost 3D quality to the artworks. It is also a very durable and practical means of presenting artwork in a public space!  With the exception of two artworks (noted below) all reference sources for the following pieces were gathered by me directly from the Territory Wildlife Park.

All artworks presented in this exhibition are available as  professionally printed archival quality Giclee prints.  Please see the Prints page for more details.

A small tree occurring in open woodland across the Top of Northern Australia , Cochlospermum fraseri mostly flowers and fruits during the Dry Season when it has become deciduous. It is traditionally used for several purposes by some indigenous groups. The mature fruit pods contain numerous dark seeds covered in fluffy hairs and for this reason it is often commonly called Kapok bush or Yellow Kapok.

With an Australia-wide distribution, Barn Owls are relatively common but generally not easy to see. Hunting by night they are highly effective predators of small animals, particularly small rodents such as mice.

Commonly known as Swamp Bloodwood, Corymbia ptychocarpa is endemic to northern WA, the Top End of the NT and into north-western QLD. Due to its showy flowers and attractive foliage it is often grown as a cultivated ornamental tree.

Flowering during the Dry Season and providing a rich source of nectar for many birds, insects and small mammals, Banksia dentata is the only species of Banksia to occur in the Northern Territory. It is widespread across the tropics of Australia, often in seasonally wet areas, and occurs into southern New Guinea. Banksia dentata was one of four species of Banksia collected by Joseph Banks in 1770 on the Endeavour voyage.

Australian Pelicans are reasonably common and widespread across Australia particularly around coastal areas, though occasionally they may also travel well inland  when conditions are favourable. Seen here in ‘breeding flush’ where the bill and pouch become bright pink with areas of yellow and blue as opposed to the usual bill and pouch colour of mid-pink tones.

Native to the NT and widespread throughout tropical countries, Crotalaria retusa has been cultivated by horticulturalists at the Territory Wildlife Park as it is extremely attractive to many species of butterflies and moths – some use it as a larval host plant whilst others harvest toxic alkaloids from the plant to protect themselves against predators. Clockwise from top: Blue Tiger, Swamp Tiger, Crotalaria Pod-borer moth adult and caterpillar, Common Crow and Lesser Wanderer.

Highly active and agile aerial predator of bees, wasps, dragonflies and other insects, Rainbow Bee-eaters can be found over much of mainland Australia but in southern areas they are seasonal and migrate north for the winter. In the Top End of the NT, Rainbow Bee-eaters are present year round.

Heard more often than seen, Bush Stone-curlews are well known for their high-pitched wailing cries in the evening and early morning when they are most active. During daylight hours they mostly hide amongst shrubs, bushes and leaf litter where their cryptic plumage renders them difficult to see.  Once extremely numerous across much of Australia, their populations have drastically declined in southern states to the extent that they are now considered Endangered in Victoria and New South Wales. In northern parts of Australia they have fared somewhat better and NT populations are secure.

Boris is a resident Spectacled Hare-wallaby in the nocturnal house at The Territory Wildlife Park. He was found as a young joey by a motorist near Borroloola in 2015, his mother having been killed by a car, and has lived at the Wildlife Park since. Spectacled Hare-wallabies are especially adapted to living in the hot dry open forests and grassland which cover much of northern Australia. They are entirely nocturnal, sheltering during the day in large tussocks of spinifex or similar and can derive all the moisture they need from the dry plant matter they eat.  Whilst not currently listed as Endangered, their numbers have declined due to predation by feral animals and  habitat alteration through changes in fire regimes and land use.

Savannah Gliders are charismatic small nocturnal creatures capable of nimbly leaping large distances and ‘gliding’ by means of an outstretched web between front and hind legs. Occuring in the tropical north of Australia and previously considered to be Sugar Gliders, they were only recognised as a separate distinct species in 2020. Unfortunately their numbers are in decline likely due to changes in habitat and predation by feral animals.

Born to a wild Dingo mother and discovered on the Territory Wildlife Park grounds as tiny abandoned puppies by a zookeeper in mid 2020, River, Chilli and Laya have been raised on the park. In this portrait they were around 8 weeks old and had begun their programme of socialisation with people other than their carer zookeepers. This was to ensure that the puppies grew into well adjusted confident animals used to humans and used to being handled when required.

Whilst fully protected as native wildlife in the Northern Territory, Dingoes are considered ‘pest’ species in some other jurisdictions.