Porter Street Wildlife Gallery: Ron visits the Fleurieu Peninsula region of South Australia

Can you imagine a world without birds? Birds that have worked their way into our collective consciousness through childhood classroom songs like Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.

Artist Brenda Holden can't imagine life without our feathery friends so she spends hours in a Gallery in a backstreet in Goolwa painting the marvels of nature who inhabit the skies and the trees near her South Coast home.

The Porter Street Wildlife Gallery features the works of natural history artists. Many, Like young Matthew Welsby have covered the windswept beaches and dunes of the Coorong in search of inspiration.

Matthew's work is just a taste of what's on show inside this amazing little gallery. It looks small but the works of 40 wildlife artists are featured in a tiny wooden building with a big history.

"This was the room that the council used to hold their meetings in," explained Brenda. "When the council first formed and broke away from the Victor Harbor council in the late 1800s it was moved here from the next street over.

"Another section of the building is where the paymaster lived when they built the barrages. It moved from lock one all the way down the river. They used to pull it apart, rebuild it and move back in - build that barrage and move on."

And so here it lies at the end of the Murray - a waterway, which has long sustained many of the parrots, featured in the artworks. Parrots like the "regent" - a regal bird that inhabits the mallee and gathers in numbers at Glue Pot Reserve north of Waikerie. The colours are mesmerising and offer endless subject matter for artists like Brenda

From paintings of parrots, wedgetail eagles and white-breasted sea eagles to exquisite long tailed finches by Di Mitchell.

"She's very clever she works on glaze. Each piece is done on ceramic tiles with special paints and kiln fired. And she can kiln fire up to a dozen times on each piece."

So can you imagine a world without birds? For starters, footy teams would need to new mascots and all of us would be so much the poorer.

Birds in all their glory are celebrated at the Port Street Wildlife Gallery in Goolwa. It's open daily except Tuesdays. (in winter). If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

Porter Street Wildlife Gallery
Porter Street
Goolwa
Open daily except Tuesdays (in winter) 10am - 4pm

Published 8th July 2007