Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

I Speech introducing the Hon. Brian Austin, Minister for the Arts, to open 'Painters and Sculptors: Diversity in ContemporaryAustralian Art', 19 June 1987 NOTE: A MAJOR EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN ART, 'PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS: DIVERSITY IN CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN ART, WAS SHOWN FIRST AT THE QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY FROM 20 JUNE TO 23 AUGUST 1987 AND THEN TRAVELLED TO THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, SAITAMA. JAPAN, AS PART OF THE SISTER STATE AGREEMENT. THE EXHIBITION CONSISTED OF THE WORK OF TWENTY-THREE PAINTERS AND TWENTY-ONE SCULPTORS. THE FIRST MAJOR EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN ART SHOWN IN JAPAN, IT WAS OPENED AT THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, SAITAMA ON 9 OCTOBER 1987 BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR OF QUEENSLAND, THE HON. SIR WALTER CAMPBELL, AC, QC. THIS SPEECH WAS MADE AT THE EXHIBITION'S BRISBANE OPENING. My first duty this evening is to welcome all of you, on behalf of the Trustees, to this splendid Gallery of ours. I take very great pleasure in doing so, particularly as so many have come, including some of the artists themselves, to see the exhibition 'Painters and Sculptors: Diversity in Contemporary Australian Art_', which I am sure you will find both interesting and challenging. My second duty, though not in order of importance, is to introduce our Minister for the Arts, the Hon. Brian Austin, who has kindly agreed to open the exhibition. Before doing that, however, I propose, with your indulgence, to say a few words about the present situation, about galleries in general and about this Gallery in particular. I hope you will bear with me. Most of you will realise-particularly those who have been coming to these openings in the past-that this is my first appearance on this platform, and I feel greatly honoured to be here. I am, however, not the only thing that is new in the Queensland art world. We have a new Act, the Queensland Art Gallery Act, Number 40 of 1987; a comparatively new Minister for the Arts; a brand new Director; and three brand new Trustees. The Act has turned the old Council of Trustees into a Board, reduced it in number from thirteen to nine, and renamed the President the Chairman. It rather suggests that a team of management consultants has been at work. At any rate, it means that we have, as the Americans would say, a new ball game; or, as I would prefer to call it, a tabula rasa, a clean slate upon which to write. And yet that is not quite true. The slate may look clean but it still contains the outline, the memory, of what has been written on it before; because in this-as in all things– we, the Trustees, are the heirs of others' efforts, the grateful inheritors of their successes. Indeed, I should like to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to my predecessor, Dr Peter Botsman, and his Council; to the previous Director, Raoul Mellish, and to the staff, all of whom have played their part in leaving the Gallery in such excellent shape. 13