Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 4 : Presscuttings, November 1967 - June 1972

2 THI COUlllR-MAII, TUISDAY DIC. 10 Art gallery-to-=ua-r ens move stirs indignation TO THE EDITOR A LL~W mo to upre11 my 1hocked lndlgne- t1on et the onnouncement th•t the Council Admlniltretlon faYour1 the lrl1bane Art Gollo,y going to tho Botanic Gorden, with • new 90rdan1 at Mt. Coat-tha. Not one person I have spoken to on the matter has !eelln!!'S a t variance wi th mine. Have gnrdens at Mt. Coot-Ula Jr des!rco. but only aa they have In Melbourne, containing Indigenous llow– ertni: shrubs and trees. te;~n ~a~~e 1 ~m 1 ~ 18 s,,:!i area but not one Inch of land should be taken from the present Botanic Gar– dens - a lovely spot, but by no rncnns too large, with many tine botantcal specl• mens which have taken countless years to 1row.- . R. B. Crlbbl Quarry Street, Denmark ff II lp11wlch. "Action needed" l\f AT we hope that t h e eommerolal bulldtn1 comptes plu art 1allel')', u once • uirreoted In or adJar.ent to the Botanic Garden • , be tor- =~:t•,nau:~: ~ • ~! n~fJ,,!; In lho Rnma Street uea, "'llhln slJht nf lh~ beaall• fully dHlrnod CIIJ Hall, a • ,., u Al within nay • -c05ll of the CIIJ. Could not finance be ob– tained If neceasary, by special lotteries, u la done moat auccesatull:, In N.8.W.? PoaltJve_ action la needed.– G11·en Pye 1 I Enderley ""· aae, Clayrleld, Victorian money pUBLIO lotterlea ha" at no 1ta1• been aMd to finance the new bulldln1 for the National Gallery of Victoria. nor 11 It Intended that tbey wtll be uled to flnanee the • econd • tap of tbe comples to -• • roan• •25 mllllon. For the Art Gallery IIMII the Victorian Government provided ,12 mlUlon and the · people of Vlctona '2 mu– lion lncludln11 alx Individual · ruta of over ,100.000. - Mlcbael Bl&nebe 111 . Bamera Road, Oaaltleld, Melbourne. ·14 DEC 1968 Sydney, N.S.W. ., - Is Santa's beard a harbour for microbes? NO one is calling Santa Claus a dirty old man, but a Queensland Member of Parliament, Mr F. P. Bromley has raised a hairy point. Imported Father Christmas beards, made from ani11111I fibres, could be a health risk, he said. This sure is a new slant on the "Ho, ho, ho" 1rade. Could anyone ever suspect that the benign old gentleman with twinkling eyes should spend 90 days in quuantine wilh his reindeer before Christmas? This Parliamenhlly discussion arose from a llill which provides that fabrics containing specially anitnal fibres may be labelled as wool if Ibey contain at least 80 per cent wool. But the drill is to keep this germy beard discus– , ,on away from lhe little ones. Otherwise, some Santa Claus (with an 80 per cent wool beard) may ask a small boy, "What 11ould you like for Christmas. son?" And 1he precocious bra1 could unswcr. " I'll tell 1 nu whal I don·1 want, sir, and that's foot and i1 ,out h disease from you." l"hcn there's lhis Coun1ry Party member of Parliament. They reckon he went uvcrsc.is to study myxomalosis, but he conducted all his research at 1hc Bunny Clubs. ( 'ULTURALLY, lhe norlhcrn co!onv ha, never ~cen so strong in the ballet deparln;cnt. In racr 1hc Quecmland Ba llet Company is shaping up like ., regular pride and joy !or 1he State. It h the only company in the nalion. apart fr11m th~ Australi:,n Ballet Company. that has full - 111nc dancers. The big kick alon!!, or perhaps it would be 111 orc npt to say lhc grc-.11 leap toward in ballet, PIX-P•g• l~•••mber 14, 1961 came when the Queensland Government lifted its subsidy from $7,.500 to $30,000 a year. This boost saved the ballet from stumbling in the Stale. 1be Queensland Ballet Company's founder, Mr Charles Lisner, formerly of Sadler's Wells, was offered a plum job in the Uniled States to form and direct a company. 1ne $30,000 Queensland Government subsidy made him stay here. It was lhe end of a long road for Lisner. He had kept the Queensland Ballet Company going without a great deal of help for IS years. In fact, he calculated he had put $60,000 or his own money into it in that time. Now IOloists and a corps de ballet of 20 arc being chosen. 1ne corps de ballet will be enpged on a part lime basis. Salaries for the full-timers range from $2,000 to S3,600 a year. And the Queensland Baller Company is going interstate for recruits. Audition will be helJ on December 2 in Sydney al the Joan Holliday Ballet Sohool. and on December 3 at the Kalhleen Gorham School in Melbourne. For founder Lisner the Queensland Baller Company's progress has been a long, hard track. llu1now. the show is on the road. NOT so happy is the art picture in Queensland. The Queensland Art Gallery, housed in a building more suitable for demolition than anything else, gets along on a State Government handout cf S24,000 a year. This does not include staff salaries. The $24.000 pays for running expeni;es, print– ing catalogues, providing prizes a nd promoting dis– plays. What is left goes on buying paintinp. As an example, the gallery director, Jam::s Wieneke, went lo an auction to obtain a painting hy S. T. Gill. All the gallery could afford to bid was $800. The painting brought $2,000. Anyone have a spJrc Blackman. Nolan or Ori sdale?