This painting records the moment when explorers William Hovell and Hamilton Hume first saw the Southern Alps on their 1824 expedition from Sydney to Geelong. Hovell noted on 8 November that the view was ‘most magnificent. This was an immensely high mountain covered nearly one-fourth of the way down with snow, and the sun shining upon it gave it a most brilliant appearance.’

This painting is George Peacock’s interpretation of something that happened many years before he arrived in the colony. It was given to the Library by Hovell’s grand-daughter — presumably he commissioned it to celebrate his achievements as an explorer.