Don has been awarded the 2015 President’s Medal for his painting Hells Gates – Tasmania.
About the scene Don writes…
‘The small, unusually shaped lighthouse marks The Entrance to Macquarie Harbour on the West coast of Tasmania. It is a calm day as the horizon indicates, but seas here can be ferocious as it is where the Southern Ocean meets the Western Shores, and most times The Entrance is impossible for shipping. The title “Hells Gates” was given by convicts interred on Maria Island within the harbour. The sea and surrounding dense bush made escape absolutely impossible, hence the macabre title.’
