Marsupials of Australia by Rosemary Woodford Ganf: Lisa McAskill reports on the exhibition

Several years ago on Postcards we featured the work of natural-history artist, Rosemary Woodford Ganf. She was on a mission to hand illustrate all of Australia's marsupials.

"I am the first and possibly the last person to ever hand illustrate all the marsupials of Australia," said Rosemary. "It's important as a document of what these animals look like."

It is all part of a thirty-year labour of love. In the seventies Rosemary began the seemingly endless task of painting every Australian marsupial. The first volume depicting possums, koalas and wombats was published in 1980. The second, which includes carnivorous marsupials and bandicoots, followed seven years later. And now she's completed volume three - the last in an epic project, which has dominated her life.

This elegant limited edition covers the super family of marsupials known as macropods, which range in size and habitat diversity from the largest marsupial of all - the iconic Red Kangaroo from the dry inland regions of Australia, to the smallest - the musky rat-kangaroo from the tropical rainforest of North Queensland.

The original paintings, seen in our earlier Postcards story and now featured in the long-awaited Volume Three - Marsupials of Australia - are on show at the South Australian Museum until June 25, 2005.

Marsupials of Australia
Illustrated by Rosemary Woodford Ganf
SA Museum
North Tce
Adelaide
Exhibition ends June 25, 2005