Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

There was this grazier in Western Queensland who wanted to improve the look of the homestead garden. I shall call him 'the man from Roma'. After much thought, he decided that a statue was what the garden needed, but as he knew little about sculpture, he was in a bit of a quandary. Then he remembered he had a friend who had graduated in Arts from one of the more prestigious Queensland universities, so he put the problem to him. 'Don't you worry about that', said the Bachelor of Arts. 'I know just the thing for you. There's this famous Museum in Paris they call the Louvre, and they tell me there's a statue there called the Venus de Milo-something to do with that milk drink, I imagine. She's a beaut sheila, bonza norks, not much on, and they'll do copies, so why don't you order onel'. This valuable advice having been given and received, the two friends parted, and the Bachelor of Arts thought no more about the matter until he ran into the man from Roma a few months later. 'How did you get on', he asked. 'Fine', the man from Roma said. 'It was like you said--beaut sheila, bonza norks, not much on, looks great in the garden.' 'Well, I'm glad everything went well', said the Bachelor of Arts. 'Actually', said the man from Roma, 'we had a bit of bad luck. When she arrived– you wouldn't believe it--both arms were missing'. 'I suppose you wrote to the Louvre', said the Bachelor of Arts. 'Well, in fact, I telephoned. I thought I might get quicker action that way', said the man from Roma. 'And did youl', asked the Bachelor of Arts. 'No, I did not. The Curator seemed to speak good enough English, but when I told him what had happened, he pretended not to understand, called me an idiot, said they had sent a perfect copy, and if I did not like it when I got it I would know what to do with it.' 'Well', said the Bachelor of Arts, 'you know those frogs-very ill mannered so and so's at the best of times. So what did you dol'. 'Not much else I could do then. I sued the Queensland Railways for negligence', said the man from Roma. 'And how did the case gol', asked the Bachelor of Arts. 'Oh, there was no case', the man from Roma replied. 'The Transport people were very decent. They settled out of court.' Well, ladies and gentlemen, since this is a night when we not only thank members of the Foundation for their generosity, but also try to encourage further generosity, let me just say that if anyone were to give us a perfect copy of the Venus de Milo, we would be happy to accept it, even if the arms were missing. All that having been said, I would like to thank not only those who have just received their certificates of membership, but also all those who, over the years, have made donations to the Gallery. Without them the Gallery would not be what it is today. The Government may provide the Gallery with its daily gingerbread, if I may put it that way, but it is the members of the Foundation who put the gilt upon it. I should like to proffer individual thanks to Her Excellency the Governor, Mrs Leneen Forde, for continuing the great tradition-that the Governor of the day should present the certificates of membership; to Mr Richard Anderson, Managing Director of Coopers and Lybrand, who have sponsored this dinner for the last 125