Under the jacaranda was painted in 1903 and was exhibited in the Queensland Art Society exhibition of that year, when it was purchased by the Trustees of the QAG. The sitter for the female figure holding a red parasol was the artist's wife, Selina (nee Bell), whom R Godfrey Rivers had married in 1901.¹ 

The subject reflects a popular European tradition, namely a group 'taking tea' in an attractive outdoor setting — in this case, the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens. This site provided suitable and popular outdoor drawing and painting locations for students at the Central Technical College at the lower end of George Street. There Rivers would have become aware of the jacaranda tree with its majestic form and distinctive colour when in bloom. He has effectively captured this colour in the painting and has emphasised it with a counterplay of green vegetation and the sparkling accent of the vermilion umbrella of the principal figure. 
 

The jacaranda tree in this painting is of Australian botanical significance. It was probably the first jacaranda tree to be grown in Australia.² Native to South America, the species arrived in Brisbane in 1864. Walter Hill, the first Curator of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, lived in a nearby house which was washed away in the 1893 floods. Hill's house was just below the present Gardens Cafe which was built in 1909, originally as the replacement for the Curator's residence. Ships that took Australian wheat to Argentina and Chile in South America returned carrying a ballast of gneiss, stone that constitutes the major rockeries of the Botanic Gardens. Seeds and plants from South America were also brought in on these vessels. It was from this source that Hill obtained specimens, including the jacaranda. He would row his boat across the river to the wharves and trade with the ships' captains, resulting in Australian native seeds also being removed to England. 
 

In the painting Under the jacaranda, to the right of the foreground figures, some stone edging is in evidence, most-likely composed of gneiss and coral dredged from the nearby Brisbane River. This original jacaranda tree remained in the Gardens until it was blown over in 1979. Part of the trunk, with appropriate inscription, is currently located in the office of the Curator of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at suburban Mt Coot-tha. Probably many of the jacaranda trees in Brisbane are progeny of this original plant. Hill, in his diary, noted that by 1875 he had given away approximately 50000 seeds and cuttings to people so that exotic species were widely distributed throughout Queensland.

Early views of City Botanic Gardens, Brisbane, as seen through the Collection

To the left of the painting, in the background, stockyards in subdued earth colours are represented. The stables for Government House were located in part of the Botanic Gardens. The relative locations of these stables and the jacaranda tree in this painting support the proposal of the tree's historical significance. The ground is strewn with fallen blossom, indicating that it is in the latter part of the year, possibly late October or early November.

John Massy, former Senior Education Officer, QAGOMA, September 1995

Endnotes

1. Telephone correspondence with Ronny Wakefield (Selina Bell's cousin) to Glenn R Cooke, former Research Curator at QAGOMA, 14 December 2006. Ms Wakefield advised that the couple were married at St John's Anglican Cathedral, Brisbane, 29 September 1901.
2. Appreciation is extended to Mr Ross McKinnon, Curator, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha, for historical background to the original jacaranda and City Botanic Gardens.