This watercolour, a preparatory sketch for Slab cottage, Bowen Hills, gives a good idea of Jenner’s working methods. The high-quality paper used indicates the respect accorded to the medium of watercolour at this period, and the painting is realised as a detailed and highly finished work. Jenner was interested in the picturesque subject rather than the impressive commercial and public buildings that were already embellishing Queen Street, the main thoroughfare of the city of Brisbane.

The site of the slab hut is now that of the Royal Brisbane Hospital, but even at the time of the painting’s execution, this rough timber dwelling would have been regarded as a passing record of Brisbane’s pioneering days, perhaps already touched with nostalgia.