Long intentionally developed a national imagery based on Australian native animals. He wanted to forge a new direction for Australian art that moved away from images of heroic masculine labour. In 1905, in his article ‘The trend of Australian art considered and discussed’, published in Art and Architecture, he suggested that:

'the Gum Tree, with its changes from silver to brilliant yellows and flesh tones, will yield its story, and the flowers and the birds, so quaint and different from those of the old world, will provide graceful and original fancies for the creation of an imaginative school that will be truly Australian.'

In this image of kookaburras, as in a number of his other images of fauna, Long gave the birds character, and created a sense of drama or incident through their interrelationships.

Long was one of the earliest to depict this native bird of Australia in art. The kookaburra had previously been portrayed by illustrators such as George Raper in c 1788, John Hunter in 1788–90, Sarah Stone in c 1790 and John Gould in 1838 — but these were scientific records of fauna. At the same time as Long painted this watercolour, in 1909, the catalogue for the South Australian Society of Art featured a decorative heading with an Art Nouveau-style kookaburra frieze. Long’s work was included in this exhibition. Four years later, in 1913, Robert Prenzel depicted the kookaburra in a wood carving (AGWA). Lionel Lindsay made wood engravings of a kookaburra in c 1910 and 1923, and Long himself made an etching of kookaburras in c 1919. Margaret Preston depicted the bird in a woodcut print of 1930, Ethleen Palmer in a linocut print in 1936, and Grace Cossington Smith made a drawing of a kookaburra in c 1952.

During the First World War the kookaburra became a national symbol. In 1914 the kookaburra appeared on the third national stamp issued after Federation, and it was used on the square-shaped penny and halfpenny coins from 1919 to 1921.

Long intentionally developed a national imagery based on Australian native animals. He wanted to forge a new direction for Australian art that moved away from images of heroic masculine labour. In 1905, in his article ‘The trend of Australian art considered and discussed’, published in Art and Architecture, he suggested that:

'the Gum Tree, with its changes from silver to brilliant yellows and flesh tones, will yield its story, and the flowers and the birds, so quaint and different from those of the old world, will provide graceful and original fancies for the creation of an imaginative school that will be truly Australian.'

In this image of kookaburras, as in a number of his other images of fauna, Long gave the birds character, and created a sense of drama or incident through their interrelationships.

Long was one of the earliest to depict this native bird of Australia in art. The kookaburra had previously been portrayed by illustrators such as George Raper in c 1788, John Hunter in 1788–90, Sarah Stone in c 1790 and John Gould in 1838 — but these were scientific records of fauna. At the same time as Long painted this watercolour, in 1909, the catalogue for the South Australian Society of Art featured a decorative heading with an Art Nouveau-style kookaburra frieze. Long’s work was included in this exhibition. Four years later, in 1913, Robert Prenzel depicted the kookaburra in a wood carving (AGWA). Lionel Lindsay made wood engravings of a kookaburra in c 1910 and 1923, and Long himself made an etching of kookaburras in c 1919. Margaret Preston depicted the bird in a woodcut print of 1930, Ethleen Palmer in a linocut print in 1936, and Grace Cossington Smith made a drawing of a kookaburra in c 1952.

During the First World War the kookaburra became a national symbol. In 1914 the kookaburra appeared on the third national stamp issued after Federation, and it was used on the square-shaped penny and halfpenny coins from 1919 to 1921.