This work pays homage to Brisbane’s Scottish-born explorer Thomas Petrie (1831-1910), who freely associated with the Aboriginal people, spoke their language, and participated in their daily activities.
Highland Rest is an integral part of the experience at a scenic lookout surrounded by classic Queenslander-style houses on Paddington’s Latrobe Terrace. The observation deck offers views of the Brisbane CBD and the city’s southern districts. The work explores the act of reading and its conflation between the printed page and the 21st Century hand-held screen. It romanticises long summer days spent outstretched on the verandah daybed (with a few good books) while gazing out to the distant view, now with a smartphone in hand. The tartan cushion serves as a backrest for the reader and depicts the avenues and terraces of Paddington as a way of acknowledging SE Queensland’s First Nation people. Early Colonial settlers originally built roads over the pathways walked by the Turrbal and Jagera people
