QVMAG Friends - Our people their stories: Dr Simon Bower

Next date: Wednesday, 23 September 2026 | 10:30 AM

The monthly Our people, their stories: oral histories of Northern Tasmania talks presented by the QVMAG Friends reveal the personal stories of a diverse range of people who enrich the lives of our community.

John Glover and Tom Roberts – Fathers of Australian Landscape Painting

With neurologist and Vice-Chair of The Glover Society Dr Simon Bower

John Glover immigrated to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) to join his children, arriving on 18 February 1831, coincidently his 64th birthday. He obtained one of the last large grants of land on the island, settling at Patterdale at Mills Plains, Deddington, 20 km from Evandale in 1832, where he farmed and painted commissioned works for the landowners of the colony and landscapes for sale in London.

The quality of his painting changed in response to the strange landscape of this far-flung colony. He managed to capture its light and form with a freshness that pre-empted the Australian Impressionists.

Tom Roberts emigrated in 1869 and studied painting at the National Gallery School in Melbourne and his subsequent iconic landscape works were often inspired by visits to Tasmania.

Roberts, an admirer of fellow artist, John Glover, captured beach scenes, bush compositions and sweeping mountain ranges from across the state and has become one of Australia’s most renown painters.