Not as the Songs of Other Lands explores the political, economic and cultural aspirations revealed by artistic representations of the land in Australian and American art during the nineteenth century.

By comparing and contrasting Australian and American approaches, Not as the Songs of Other Lands references notions of the sublime and tensions between rural and urban landscapes to enable reflections on national identity in colonised land. These works also reflect the characteristics of nineteenth century colonial exploration in the depiction of race, class and power.

Not as the Songs of Other Lands presents works from the Hudson River School within the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection alongside works from the University of Melbourne’s Russell & Mab Grimwade Miegunyah Collection, and paintings by iconic Australian artists such as Eugene von Guérard, John Glover, Nicholas Chevalier and Tom Roberts from important Australian collections.