Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 8 : Pressclippings, 1977-1981

111owd along th..: royal ro;1ds. to bring gold to th..: Spaniards. Free men had b..:comi: slavi:s, mining their gold for Spain. Many of their gold works of art wi: re nwlted down in to ingots and shipped to Spain in 1,111 galli:011s. It was thi:n that thi: Spaniards · · \' bcg:111 to hear u r the mythkal , · · ;v!. 111a11 ofgo ld . lnthi: MuiscarL·gion , · !/. ~{~ th,~ Indi ans w<.:nt to a lake of \ ' 1( 1 hiddi:11 go ld eve ry y<.:ar. Their "l chil'f cow rcd hi s body in resin '!I and then in gold du st to bt:comi: r., ., · •', .~11- the 111a11 of gold. In the Spanish i' ' . ., t!,~ languagi: he was soo n called "El ' , ,,. 1 ,J , , D I " , / ·,!I orat o . · . i '~ /~! El Do rad o sa iled to thc middle 1/. ' ~ or the laki: on a ra ft shel.!lcd with • -,' ff,, gold. On bo;ml were articks of 1Yyl),/•~ 1, 1 ... 1/_ gold made by the villagers. When •:[fr/fi 'ff El Dorado ri:ad1ed the middll! of 1 1.: ' ~- a the laki: , hi! sank the raft and , ~ji l ~ -~~r"" washed _1he go ld dust fron! his ;· ( !1 4 t~ body. hom tlw shores of the · , . ,) :: , ~akc till' people threw gold articles . (j ' It 11110 the lake. ,, · Qf. _The story exc:i ted the Spaniards. ,,· Alter all. there were Indians 111 · Colombia who buried gold artidi:s ...... . · with their dead tribesmen in tombs. The idea of throwing gold into the lake in the M uisca regio n was just as reasonable. Besides, the M uiscas had small gold raft ornaments in their homes. They said these repn:sented the raft of Eldorado. The Spaniards began to search for the hidd en gold in th e mystery lakc . Soon, the place . the myth and the golden man all beca1nc known as Eldorado. For more than 400 years, the scardt has gone on but no one has cwr found the gold of Eldorado. So111c belicw the story of the man of gold on tlw golden raft . Others think thc Indians trick ed the Sp:111iards. I r so. the jokl! was a good oni: because men still go in search or Eld orad o. An inlemationnl exhibition from South America. I:'/ Dorado: Colombia11 Gold, will be on display at the Queensland Art Gallery from 13 July to 13 August 1978. 23