Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

simply opening and closing my lips and silendy mouthing the words 'thank you', an infinite number of times. Of course a lot of speakers do this anyway, even when they are not proposing a vote of thanks. But I knew I would not be able to get away with it because some over-zealous member of the audience might call upon me to speak up. So you are fated to listen to yet another speech. The benediction, with which His Grace the Archbishop, the Most Rev. Peter Hollingworth, so graciously and gracefully blessed our dinner, has brought to mind an anecdote about another Prince of the Church--allegedly a true one-which I recently came across in the course of some desultory reading. It seems that this particular cleric was well known for his acute and discriminating appreciation of the good things of life and was, in consequence, much in demand as a guest and, of course, as a sayer of Grace in the great houses of the city in which his Archdiocese was situated. On such occasions, it was his habit to cast his eye carefully over the array of wine glasses set out before him. If he saw only a claret and a hock glass, he would begin his benediction rather sadly with the words, 'Inasmuch as we are not worthy of the least of thy mercies .. : If, however, he saw in addition a champagne flute, his face would light up and he would begin with the splendid words, 'Oh BounteousJehovah! .. : Tonight I think I can fairly say, 'Oh Bounteous Members of the Art Gallery Foundation!' for their generosity; . and also, 'Oh Bounteous Government of Queensland!', for matching their contributions dollar for dollar. All of us at the Gallery are very conscious of the important, indeed vital, part this injection of funds has played, and will continue to play, in the promotion of our various activities. Without it, we would be infinitely worse off. It enables us to acquire works of art which we would not otherwise be able to afford, and you will see on the wall two splendid paintings-by Jeffrey Smart and by Fred Williams-and the James Hardy Collection of photography. It also enables us to mount exhibitions, both here in Brisbane and throughout the State of Queensland, which we would not otherwise be able to mount. Since last year's dinner, contributions to the Foundation from the private sector– individual as well as corporate-have amounted to more than half a million dollars. I do not want to discriminate on the basis of the size of a donation, but Iwould just like to acknowledge specifically two very large donations that have been received in this financial year-from the Idemitsu Company ofJapan and from ARCO Coal. To both these companies and to all other contributors to the Foundation, past as well as present, small as well as great, I offer our sincere thanks. As most of you already know, the major international event this year will be the exhibition 'Toulouse-Lautrec: Prints and Posters from the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris', which opens in August. It will be the first exhibition to receive assistance from a very special Foundation initiative, the Exhibitions Development Fund, the contributors to which are all Japanese companies-Idemitsu, Meiji Life Insurance, Nikko Securities, Nomura, Japan Travel Bureau, and Hitachi-and also from a new and very generous sponsor, Louis Vuitton Australia Pty Ltd, the maker of that elegant luggage which has for so long served to distinguish the traveller from the tourist. 123