Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

• Sir Walter Campbell, who opened the Gallery's first exhibition in Japan in Saitama in 1987; • Doug Hall, who made three very successful trips to Japan with me to raise money for the Gallery from Japanese companies; • John Kenny who, as the Queensland Representative in Tokyo, helped us with transport, hospitality and expertise; • and last, but most important, Bails and Sarah Myer, who have made a flying trip from Melbourne as Bails is off to America in the morning. They are special friends because, just over thirty-four years ago, they introduced me to Arija and my life without her by my side would have been much less full and much less rewarding. Bails is, therefore, in Japanese terms our nakodo (go-between) and the dinner party at which we met could be called our miai (marriage meeting). One meeting of eyes was enough to change my life. The Consul-General has commented that my first encounter with the Japanese left something to be desired. So indeed did the first known encounter between Australians and Japan, but on that occasion the boot was on the other foot. In 1832 the crew of an Australian whaling ship the Lady Rowena landed on the far north coast of Japan and the sailors, in the absence of satisfactory linguistic communication, proceeded-to use the words of the historian-to 'do over' the unfortunate inhabitants of the little fishing village which nestled on the shore. After that experience it took another thirty-five years before any Japanese visited Australia. The delay was caused not so much by memories of the Lady Rowena as by the Tokugawa shogunate's discouraging attitude towards foreign travel. Those who went abroad without authority were likely to be put to death upon their return. However, in 1867 twelve Japanese acrobats and jugglers were permitted to travel to Melbourne to perform -at the Princess Theatre. They were billed as 'The Great Dragon Group from Japan, 12 Wonders from Yeddo' and their appreciative audience included one of Queen Victoria's sons, the Duke of Edinburgh. The relationship between Australia and Japan quickly progressed thereafter. through the remainder of the century and right up to the war when, as we know, it plunged to its nadir. It is now, I am glad to say, recovering once again and, according to a recent editorial in the Australian, it has never been 'stronger, friendlier or more broadly based'. I am pleased that the Japanese Government believes I have made a contribution, however small, towards that recovery. I am also encouraged to note that the Japanese themselves are contributing to it in this year of remembrance, fifty years after the war, by recognising and deploring some of the sad and cruel realities of history. A private citizen can do little to affect public attitudes without a forum where he can express his views. The Gallery provided me with one for speaking, both here and in Japan; and Griffith University provided one for writing, through its 'Australians in Asia' series, for which Professor Hugh Dunn was responsible. In both media I have urged my compatriots to look at and think about the Japan of the present and not the Japan of half a century· ago, because if they did so they would find many things to admire and indeed to envy. 166