Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

work, we see the results of a gifted artistic sensibility focused on subjects of vital economic significance to this country. The Queensland Art Gallery is pleased to be able to share this unique vision with the wider Queensland community. In an age when the price of art-all forms of art, including paintings and decorative works-has shot through the roof, so to speak, galleries are having to rely more and more on the generosity of donors to increase or improve their collections. We are glad that CSR has joined our stable of donors and thank them for their generosity. 2 Vote of thanks at the Annual General Meeting of the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation, 27 August 1987 Ladies and gentlemen, for a comparatively modest man like me it really is very exciting to receive an annual report that is actually addressed to oneself. It is even more so when the covering letter begins, 'Dear Chairman, it is my privilege to present to you .. : With great respect, Sir Bruce, I think the boot should be on the other foot. It is my privilege and the Gallery's privilege to receive the report; and it is my pleasant duty to thank you and your members for it and for all you have done for us during the year just past. I have said it before and I will say it again-that support from the private sector of society is absolutely vital for the development of the Gallery's Collection. The Foundation, thanks to Sir Bruce Watson's inspiring Chairmanship and Sir David Longland's able administration, is the superbly efficient channel through which most of that support reaches us. In this the Treasurer, Bill Palmer, also plays a significant role, and we like to think that, in providing a Trustee as Treasurer for the Foundation, we are making an important contribution ourselves. And so, on behalf of the Gallery, I should like to thank the Foundation, its staff and its members, especially those who are here this afternoon. We really would find life hard without you. 3 Speech following the presentation of Membership Certificates at the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation's Eighth Annual Dinner, 27August 1987 One of the nicer and more sensitive remarks attributed to Oscar Wilde-in many respects a rather cruel and caddish man-is that it is only the frequent use of the words 'thank you' that distinguishes civilisation from barbarism. It is a sentiment with which I am inclined to agree and the Gallery, as you know, is always seeking ways of coming down stro"."gly on the side of civilisation.. It is, therefore, a great pleasure to have been allotted, this evening, the duty of saying thank you. My marching orders-or perhaps I should say my brief.-enjoin me to proffer a vote of appreciation to His Excellency the Governor of Queensland, Sir Walter Campbell, for his support and I am more than happy to do this. Before doing so, 117