Lot 18. HUGH DAVID SAWREY CBE (1919-1999)

"The Croc Shooters, Arnhem Land N.T."

Oil on Board
48x58cm
Signed Lower Right
Prov: Private Collection N.T.

Frame size: 74x85cm

Condition: Painting is in lovely condition with no visible faults or concerns to report. Original framing has minor wear/marks to corners, edges or mount, but is in good overall presentable condition.

$7,000-9,000

Works depicting the far northern reaches of Australia occupy a less familiar but important position within Hugh Sawrey’s broader practice, extending his well-known imagery of the pastoral interior into the distinct environments of Arnhem Land and the tropical north. The present painting, centred on a group of crocodile hunters navigating these remote waterways, reflects the artist’s firsthand exposure to regions where survival and livelihood were shaped as much by rivers and climate as by land.

While Sawrey is most closely associated with stockmen, drovers and station life, hisyears of travel through northern Australia brought him into contact with a wider range of frontier occupations. In this context, crocodile hunting emerges not as spectacle, but as part of a working existence defined by risk, skill and adaptation to environment.

Consistent with his approach, the work is grounded in observation and memory, avoiding embellishment in favour of direct and unvarnished representation. It stands as a compelling extension of Sawrey’s commitment to recording the realities of remote Australian life, broadening his visual narrative beyond the cattle country to include the unique conditions and occupations of the Top End.