Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 5 : Presscuttings, June 1972 - November 1976

Gallery 'danger' lllSBANE. - Trustees of lh~o.!1...4r~ Gallery say It Is unsafe and should be dosed lmmedlalely, They say the bulldlng could collapse In a storm Bild lhat the S4 million collecllon ls o n,·e 011d ,.,eather risk. 111<1\fl.-\'\'I", ~tond,.,·, - The (J11cc11,l,1nd Go, c1 n– mc111 ha, ,·,1lled fnr a "'llr• \ "} o t lh1..• (Jucc1hla11d _.1\ ,1 ( 1tiflc1 \ ilfll..'/ :I ICIJIH,'\l f1on1_1hc ~.11/c,>'s IJUSIC'C, lhal II he ~:ln,1.:d inuncd,:i– rcly, I he 1111,1cc, \i.1v ihc b11ildin~ i, un,,,tc r,;,. ihe r ut,fic. ,1,,JT .,nd 1hc $4 million t:ollc,1i1.111. The trustees said this In R letter to the Et111cullon Minister, Sir Alan f'ldch– er. 11 I cannot over-empha- 11.., the dancers," the chairman or the 1all•:7. =:'f::i nT~t~n Trou • "COURIER MAIL" "JI a storm hit It, the thing could collapse.'" The bulltllng ls 75 reora ~ I ~1 ' Brisbane, Old. ·Art gallery safe; may close e raa anea • aae, e .· u we o mat.Id HOO aquare metr:, have some trouble with ~:=a...:,~-: n:!Jed. raw:~~ cr~inJ~!'e~m·• t trustee chairman collection wu valued at <Bir Leon T~out) con- •to million. firmed lut nlsht that a T he gallery-museum letter wu written to Slr building wu built 76 Alan Pletcher. I years ago u a concert "I cannot over-emphl• hall. It hu been a tem– sl.e the · danprs " he porary home for the gal• said. "If a storm hit It, lery for 45 years. the thing could collapSt!. The State Gover'lment "The trustees do not already has decided to want to see the gallery build a new gallery. The cloae, but it looka u site on the southern side thou• h we have no or the Victoria BrldR• cholce.w hu been choaen and an Sir Leon said the dee!- R r c h It e c t awarded a slon wu up to the Gov- commlMlon to desiRn the emment, but the pllery bulldtn11. ' would have to close al• The new gallery, ex• m oat Immediately at peeled to be open by least for major repalra. . 1978, will cost an ••tl· m¥~ '1e~~irom the In storace "We might be then able to use It for dlsplll'I or aome of our collectton, but the major works would have to be kept In ~~~- somewhere else," S Ir Leon said the trustees were unable to find anywhere for a tem• po r a r y gallery which could continue public ex– hibitions until the new gallery waa built. A ,poke.man for t,he Queensland Museum which occupies 1)1lrt oi the same building, anld lut night the museum w~o~~\.~t~~'fa 0 J~t un- truatee to lr Alan Plet- cher CU that: There wu a risk of elee tric&l short clrculUn when rain water cam in. Two stafr member, v.·ho arrived early a the Gallery on January 27 to check the effec or the rain from cy– c Ion e Wanda found wiring short circuiting and were Just able to prevent a major lire. A l~~be s~~rlli'e r:ra~ ~~ ii• a tulltn,lr~a.\.~~~~ spread rapidly and It fo°~l~e ~~l' ~1 tg~s.~~~ ten to. In Cabinet Cabinet yesterday de• clded: To uk the Education Minister (Sir Alan Fletcher, to lnveattrlle ftndln1t an alternative site for the oalnlln~a. To ull the Works Minis• ter (Mr. Hodll!S) to ~:t. a gri~~tee:~u~; ft:1'J~rdon Chalk said that followin1 flooding •:,~~e hper~i1en\': 1 ~;~Jhi~ Leon Trout had .::"''" the Oovernment'• atten– tion to them. Sir Gordon said Cab– inet had decided to try to find adequate space un– der securltv condtllon.. for the display and stor– a11e or valuable palntln1r.1. Under present f,lans. the new 11allery wou d not open until about 1978. In the meantime, the Oo1·ernment was lookin1t at the Idea of a tempo- ra~lr R~~eiron said the O01•ernment had .,pent $2 million on the n galler,· prnJect al_r~y. Including the 1cq"J"<ion "WEST AUSTRALIAN" 2 AP R1974 TRUSTEES WA GALLERY CLOSED Tl111SDANE:: Thi' lrustecs or the Queenslnnd Art Gr llery have asl<ed the S tnte Government 111 clus,• it l111111cdhlcly. They my thnt the hulldln,:: Is unsafe for the puiJltc, 1.ho s in ff a nd the $~ million collecllon. Fl!'C .••HI \\'Cather could endanger the rollec– tlon and die bullclini: could rnllnpso In a storm llwy ~~} . ' The trust..rs hove told the Government that the ,::nll,.ry's c·ulll'cli1111 should be stored Jn air– co11dltl1111cd IH'<'m h,cs under guard. Th~~- sn id in a lc-tlcr In the Eclucnllon ll-!lnls– tcr, Sir ,\lun 1-'lt•tdu•r. 11ml 11ir-ronditloncd slor– a gt• \\'Us lll'l'l':O.!'illl'Y until lhe S ta te's n e w ga llery \\'OS huil t 01· 11111 II c.\: lt•11sivc impro\'omcnls were 1111111,, 111 Jiu• prr•s J)t b11ilrl/_ng. "TELEGRAPH" Brisbane, Old. Cor - mueb - thb and IAl11rlala wlll be talllnc 0111 a,edal tn • ur- ::: r~:r i:-r:- .e.:! bane ... Here we're only Just 11rowlng 11ceuatomed to the idea that the inter• national passenRcr 111100 could bli,w over the hllla and far away with any high wlnda gustin11 the airport . .. And lo and behold l" learn that our Jong out– dated Art Gallery is un– sare "for the public, ~~~f;c~~~- ;he t4 million That's the Trustees• asseument which scarcely can leave the powers • that • be any- ;~•e~t~~~-at a point of Not, of course, that anyone can accuse the wheels or Oovernment of not turning Jn tlle cause or art. A new Gallery site haa been acquired an architect awarded 1 commission to de..lgn the bulldilll! _ and an 01:,e n t n g hopefullJI f 97 :,'1uled for around But hey, wait a min– ute . . • The Trustees• rep0rt rep0ru that back In 1970 a P'tre BrlRMle report aald the atat.e of the Present bulldlnR waa •uch that • fire would sprea<l rapidly and It WOUid not be poaalble to aave any of the contenta ' ·And now la t97f now isn't It? ' . 1 Which, not surprisingly d~Y~".'~· ."~~ you, won. Where, for more than three years, has that len "' lhe matter of safet.v - for visitors. for ,slnffers and for elt– hlblts. not onlv In the Art Dep11rtnicn't but _ tn lhc Museum. next door. In I.hat crumbly old 01useurn piece o f a convcrtcc1 con-::crl halt complex. Ann _ W_h o f ee ls l i ke queuing up for n .c;;;r rve of c11ll11 rc ril? ht llO\\'? \Vhy, I Jrne.~c; ~ven Dine Pn'r-., woulrln'l trmpl \'nu. crcn 1r there wn.c; l h(' l'l'l110tcst chnnce or l hrm rl~kiriJ{ the " m:H;lf•rp1ccc" In n ulnce tlrnt -~ ,c;I) long l>ccn A rl!'\k 10 you f Yours sincerely,