Fisherman’s hut, Point Ormond

This painting records a time when isolated and ramshackle huts still stood on the shores of Port Phillip Bay, in areas that are now densely populated suburbs.

The painting looks across sandy ground with scrubby vegetation towards wooden huts and fences set among trees. In the distance, we can see the forest of masts indicating Melbourne's busy docks.

While Coutts' view creates a general effect of the outdoors, he does not set out to capture a specific effect of light or atmosphere, as Roberts or Streeton would have, but he imitates their technique, laying paint on with broad strokes of a square-tipped brush.