Educational Value Statement: Wild weather

'Wild weather!' is a striking collection of images that depict extreme weather events throughout Australia, including floods, bushfires, tropical cyclones and sea, hail, snow and dust storms. The images show the effects of wild weather on natural and built environments and on human lives from early colonial times until the 1950s. Many of the images record well-known events in Australia's history.

• The picture trail spectacularly depicts the challenges Australians face in living in a country that is significantly affected by extreme weather events. In northern Australia there are tropical cyclones. In the south-eastern regions, 'east coast lows' bring high winds, huge swells and floods to coastal areas. Further inland, high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds bring drought and dust storms in summer, but also snow and hail when particular conditions prevail.
• The destructive power and awesome beauty of wild weather is powerfully depicted. In full colour, the paintings depict dramatic sea storms that caused the famous shipwrecks of the Kent, Star of Greece and SS Dandenong. The photographs, which are mainly black and white, show storms in full fury, often battering structures and putting lives at risk. The images of phenomenal dust storms stripping topsoil from Australia's arable land are especially striking.
• The effect of extreme weather events on natural and built environments is vividly represented in the trail. The photographs show the destruction of beaches, jetties, boathouses and boats by storms at Glenelg, Newcastle and Cottesloe, the devastation of Darwin and Port Douglas by cyclones, the inundation of buildings by floods in Maitland, Hill End and Kempsey, and the aftermath of bushfires in Warrimoo, Pemberton and the Coorong.
• The trail documents some of the effects on human life caused by extreme weather. The paintings depict highly dramatic scenes that were commonplace in colonial times. These include sailing ships foundering and being wrecked in massive seas, sometimes resulting in hundreds of deaths. Many images, such as photographs of people observing a storm or its aftermath, highlight the vulnerability of humans when facing the full force of the elements.
• The images in the trail indicate that natural disasters have been recorded repeatedly around Australia throughout the period of European settlement. The images of cyclones, floods and dust storms echo similar events that continue to occur today. Australians in the 21st century regularly suffer the kind of damage to their built and natural environments that occurred in previous centuries.
• Visual images are highly effective in communicating information and meaning. In this trail, the photographs record events and the paintings interpret them. All of the images are constructions that can be used to position viewers and influence their understanding, ideas and attitudes. This is especially evident in the paintings, which use composition, framing, perspective and colour to enhance their meaning and effect.