Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

And finally, it marks the first occasion when a Moet & Chandon exhibition in this Gallery has been opened by a Prince of the Church, if I may so describe our illustrious Archbishop of Brisbane, the Most Reverend Peter Hollingworth, Officer of the Orders of Australia and of the British Empire. It is appropriate that he should be fulfilling this task, as the Christian Church has, over the centuries, been closely associated with the production of champagne. You will recall that it was Dom Perignon of immortal memory who, in the seventeenth century, first induced a blend of the juices of the Pinot and Chardonnay grapes grown in that tiny triangle of France known as Champagne, to produce those 'beaded bubbles winking at the brim' which distinguishes the wine of that region from all others. The story goes that when he sipped his new drink, he called out to his brother monks, 'Come quickly and share it with me, I am tasting the stars!'. As a result, he was cellarmaster of the Abbey of Hautvillers near Epernay for forty-seven years and his accomplishments are celebrated there by a festival each year. Tonight we, too, will be tasting the stars. There is another, more personal, reason why the Archbishop is an appropriate opener, and that is his own keen interest in the visual arts. As you know, he writes a weekly column in the Sunday-Mai/ and last year he had this to say about the Gallery: I went through our marvellous Queensland Art Gallery last week looking at the art treasures and trying to choose which was my favourite. One cannot compare contemporary with classical art because they are talking different languages but the task of choosing showed me how well Queensland has done in building up a fine collection of works reflecting the many different dialects of our cultural history. In the end he refrained from making a choice, but it would be hard to find a better friend of the Gallery than the man who wrote those words ... And now it gives me great pleasure to call upon the Archbishop to open the exhibition. 16 Speech to introduce the Premier, the Hon. Wayne Goss, at a reception to acknowledge corporate donations to the Queensland Art Gallery by the National Australia Bank Limited, Coles Myer Limited, Pancontinental Mining Limited, the Stubbies Clothing Company Limited, 30 March 1990 I have the pleasant duty once again of welcoming the Premier, who has kindly agreed to receive, on behalf of the Gallery, a number of important works donated by the corporate sector. Following their formal acceptance today, these- works will be integrated into the permanent collection, where their individual importance and their relationship to the exhibition as a whole can be fully revealed. The presence of the Premier, representatives of the corporate donors, and the Director and his staff, should serve to remind us of the tripod upon which the Gallery stands financially-Government, private sector and the Gallery itself. 133