Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 9 : Construction of the cultural centre, 1977-1981

IF THE Queenal • nd Cultur•I Centre I • to be renamed, It ehould Ila 1111med after e great dead men. It • hould be called Flinder • Piece - after the gr •• t explorer • nd n • vlg • tor C • pt • ln Matthew Fllnder • (1774-1814). And if the Performing Arts Complex - a part of the "place" - al&o is to be renamed, it should be named after a great dead woman. ll should be called the Moncrieff Centre - after the great musical-stage singer and actress Gladys Moncrieff (1892-1976), who was born at Bundaberg, Queensland. If you wish to disagree with my proposal, by all means do so. And please be quick. ll is later than we think. The cultural showplace now rising on. the South Bank of the Brisbane River, and due to be in full operation in I984, will be ours, and posterity's. People, • ot Cabinets or ln-ca-ra What shall we'~ call our Cultural Centre By reviewer DAVID ROWBOTHAM committees, should dedde wbat 1ucb public places should be called. This is especially so, when, although the Slate Government is creating the place, al a probable final cosl of about Sl00,000,000, the taxpaying - and the gambling - public shall really be shelling out the shekels. I presume m05l of us know that the State's annual GoldJn Casket profits, amounting to more than $5,000,000, already have been channelled from the traditional cause of helping our hospitals to lhe cause of ~ullure. I myself happen to know, and the' public has the right to know, that the Government-appointed Queensland Cultural Centre Trust (a secretive lot) arc toying with lhe idea of a name– change as if it were a hot potato - picked up, passed, and dropped. Beware! The possibility of a perman– ent name-change for the unique.centre is definitely in the air of statutory corridors. The centre is unique, al least to Australia, because it shall contain the Queensland Art Gallery, a Performing Arts Complex, the Queensland Museum, and the Queensland Public Library, """"""""""""·"""""""""' What do YOU think? WRITE to The Courier-Mall will! your ideas for a name for the Queensland Cultural Centre, and for tlle Performln1 Arta Co11pltx. ................. ~········ besides open-air promenade– and-entcrtainment areas, and reataur• ants and car-parks. We may well exclaim oh! or no! at the awful sound of "complex" bcin1 applied to the performing-arts part, which will include a Concert Hall and a Lyric Theatre, each designed to boll.IC a maximum of 2000 people. Nevertheless the whole show will be quite a place indeed: a place which the Sydney Opera House, the Victorian Arts Centre, the Adelaide Festival Centre, CUL.TI '~\. CENT'le t.1~c ww..r~T•w1 Fe..,.,~\ ~~•vs C...ol( O'KL.f"I and most cultural centres oveneas, shall not match so largely, or with 111ch variety. Meanwhile, one of the name-changes which (I understand) members of the Queensland Cultural Centre Tru&t arc trying to handle, is a change to (hush, hush) the Bjelke-Petcrsen Centre. Tbe ctntr,, in my opinion, sbould not be called after any Utia1 perMa, no • 11atttr llow a,Ht tut ptl'IN Ja - actually or osteMlbly. • And, in fact, I firmly believe that Mr Bjelkc•Pe\erscn, whose name seems to be worrying the Trust's collective mind, would not be mortally offended anyway if the Trust diplomatically whispered in his ear a home truth . The truth is that the Premier's name is - like mine! - neither euphonioua nor fetching enough. ft would not make the title of the centre trip easily on the tongue. Neither would it swiftly take one's fancy on letterheads that shall have to become immediately familiar and compelling in this State, and interstate, and abroad - from where exhibitions, entrepreneun and customers must come. r o~. rf\1 c,,O:.o· ,, ' n .. N1;> ..... Plain commonse ciscd. Any re-aclec name (or nama) s with an appropriate with eminence and I concede that th accurate name for Queensland Cultur of the point that t cumbersome. And, if vou wan stick to the P.racnt ·your guns. You mi Tru1t goea mad wi tries to foist somct I repeat: We coui and we would do ourselves and pmtc name Flinders Plac incorporate a "compl dubbed the Moncri . WIiy Fll • -n? W •-anlapee; lleao.