On the Wallaby Track

(1896 – Frederick McCubbin)

Wondering why the wife in Frederick McCubbin’s “On the Wallaby Track” looks so despairing and drained? Is it because she is in a really dreary painting?

No…Look more closely….is it because she and her husband are poor, itinerant workers who live on billy tea?

No…Look closer still….is it because she is tired and her clothes are old and dirty?

No.  Is it because her hands are deformed?  Maybe…

Nooo…most likely it’s because she gave birth to a huge, hideous cannibal baby….

No wonder they live under a tree.