This section preserves personal memories, family stories, and oral histories contributed by descendants and community members.
“Alfred’s paintings were often spoken of in our family as windows into the old bush settlements.”
Art Conservation: Alfred W Eustace with Emily Mulvihill, MAMA Conservator
This important video feature from the Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA), explores Alfred William Eustace’s remarkable gumleaf artworks through the lens of conservation, landscape history, and ecological memory.
The film features Emily Mulvihill, paintings conservator, together with Phill Falcke, Biodiversity Officer from the North East Catchment Management Authority, walking through the Chiltern - Mt Pilot National Park. Produced by Jules Boag, then Exhibitions Coordinator at MAMA in 2021.
Their discussion highlights the historical significance of the Red Box and White Box habitats, which now represent only a very small remnant of their original ecological distribution following gold mining, agricultural clearing, and broader human activity.
Of particular importance is the observation that Alfred used a mixture of both red and white box gum leaves in his paintings. Falcke further suggests that DNA testing of one of the preserved gum leaves may one day make it possible to identify not only the region of origin, but perhaps even a specific tree.
This insight powerfully connects family memory, regional environmental history, and the material reality of Alfred’s art practice.
Chiltern, Beechworth, Albury and later family lines.