Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 10 : Record of press coverage, March 1982 - May 1984

The Canberra Times 25 June 1982 .J 'Cultural awakening' for Queensland MoRE than 8,000 Queenslanders braved un– characteristic cold gusty weather in Brisbane to take part in what was described as a "cultural awakening" in Queensland. The occasion was the opening of Queensland's S2B million new art gallery. The gallery is the first of four buildings in the Queensland Cul– tural Centre, more popularly known as Southbank, being built on ihe south bank of the Brisbane River opposite the city centre. The seven speakers at the open– ing on June 21 all mentioned that Queensland could no longer be called a cultural backwater. Unable to resist a blast at the southern States, the Premier, Mr Bjelie-Petersen, said after the opening that for the price of the Sydney Opera House, Queensland was getting an art gallery, a performing-arts centre. including a lyric theatre that worked and had no acoustic pro~ lems or crowded stages, a museum and a new State library building, and a prestige restau•• rant. What is more, building of the Sl 10 million centre is running on time and should be completed in late 1984, just 6'n years after work started. The design of the centre is neither as spectacular nor as spectacularly sited as the Sydney Opera House on Bennelong Point. The centre was designed by architect and Quecnslander of the Year Robin Gibson to blend into the river bank and the modern concrete Victoria Bridge which divides the centre but con– nects it to the city. The river banlt bas been heaped up to provide a green swathe of lawns and gardens and to elevate the centre 1 above flood level. The gallery is a long three– storey, rectangular, sandy-col– oured concrete box above the wide, brown, slow-flowing Brisbane River. Looking from the city centre to the left or the gallery is a taller sandy-coloured heap of boxes which is the performing-arts cen– tre. Most of the outside structure is complete, despite more than 3,000 plan changes. The foundations for the museum have been completed and it will soon begin rising be– hind the gallery. And site worlt is about to begin on· the State library to the right of the gallery. The development of the centre means that the south banlt of the Brisbane River will be trans-– formed from a line of old wharves, small grimy factories, boarding houses and rough-house pubs to the modernistic concrete and glass cultural centre set in a sweep of parltland. From the cen– tre, people can look over the river to the incrcasina number of city skyscrapers, the Parliament pre– clnct and a maze of riverside freeways. Brisbane can no longer be writ• ten off as an overgrown country town, in architecture at least. And the response of the more than 8,000 people who visited the gallery on opening night was ac– claimed by gallery officials u evidence that Brisbane people are not just development-minded modem vandals, but have as great an interest in matters cul– tural u people from the southern capitals. Amon& the staff and promoters of the centre and its component bodies, there remains evidence or an inferiority complex: a gushing pride as an overreaction to the ·popular myth tht1t Queenslandcn are somewhat less intelligent or more culturally backward than other Australi11ns. But until the perfonning-aru complex is completed, Queensland has only two opera houses - a arand structure built at Charters Towers during the gold rush last century and now being restored, and a converted government building titled the Julia Creek Opera House in north-western Queensland. Queensland, particularly the provincial centres which account for over half the State's popu• lation, has missed many cultural activities which arc seen in Syd– ney, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide because of distance and a lack or facilities. The Australian Opera and Ballet only make infrequent visits and can put on only lim!tcd prod• uctions becauae of the tacit or facilities. Brisbane's main theatre, Her Majesty's, is threatened with demolition, and recent per• formances there have been inter• rupted by noise, dust and vibra• tions from nearby building work. And Queensland's cultural imaae has not been helped by a previ0111 State Arts Minister who boasted that he bad never been to a theatre before .bi.a appointmenL The State Government wu forced to build the cultural centre because of demand, backed by considerable support from a few executive members of the Liberal and National Parties, and be– cause the existing facilities were so woeful that the State's art and museum collection was disin~ arating. The art gallery wu housed in an old cxhibition ball until it had to be moved to several noon of a city office buildina, where the low ceilings made patrons claustrophobic, but at least the clean air-conditioned atmosphere preserved the collection. The high ceilings and extensive use of natural liaht and space in the new gallery greatly assist ap– preciation of the collection, iD– cludina the latest purchase, the Rubens 'Portrait of a Young Woman' bought in London for Sl20,000 by the Art Gallery Foundation. One of the pleasant tasks for the foundation was filling the new gallery. The foundation was ea– tablished, with a board of leadina business ltnigbta and cultural identities, to raise money for buying works of art. Although the gallery and the rest of the cultural centre is in Brisbane, the Government em- 1 phasiscs that it is Queensland'&, not just Brisbane's, cultural cen– tre. Several of the larger provincial cities, notably Roclthampton and Townsvillc, have developed their own cultural' centres. Althouah art works and per• fonnances will be based in the Brisbane centre, they will circulate reaularly on the proviD– cial circuit. Some or the provin– cial cities have aone years without a visit from a pro– fessional performing 1roup such as theatre, opera or ballet. When the 'Rocky Horror Show' broke that drought this year, it wu front-page news in the news– papers. For years State ballet and opera companies have been set up and floundered, partly from the lack of a home and partly from the inability to attract and train , professional companies. In preparation for the openina of the perfonning-arts centre, a lyric-0pera co!"~any bas ~n .es• · tablished. This II a combination or the struggling Queensland Opera Company and the highly successful semi-profesaional Queensland Li&ht <>r,era Com• pany which boasted among its singers National Party State ex– ecutive director Milte Evans. Tbc lyric opera will stage its own performance, with Queensland talent and imported stars and also help the Australian Opera to stage works in Brisbane. The performing-arts centre will be used also for visiting theatrical productions and for concerts by aroups instead of the city's Festi• val Hall, the main venue for concerts, which was built as a boxing and wrestling centre and bas acoustics to match. \ ,