Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

I am delighted to have the opportunity to address you this evening on what is a very special occasion for the Gallery. We are here to celebrate the creation of the Exhibitions Development Fund-the only one of its kind in Australia and therefore unique to this Gallery-and to acknowledge the generosity of the five Japanese Companies which have made its creation possible--Nikko Securities, Meiji Mutual Life Insurance, Nomura Securities, Japan Travel Bureau and Hitachi Ltd. The idea of setting up such a fund stemmed from our belief that, in a Gallery such as this, on the one hand far removed geographically from the world centres of great art and yet, on the other, beautifully designed to show that art to best advantage, major international exhibitions would, if we were to carry out our responsibility to bring art to the people of Queensland, be our life blood in the years to come. The idea gained strong and immediate support from the Government of the day. As a result, the Director and I went to Japan last June to persuade those Japanese Companies financially involved in Queensland-and very successfully so, I may say-to direct some of their profits to the cultural life of this State by supporting the Fund; for art is as strong a glue as any for binding two countries together. Needless to say, we received some knock-backs, but our week's visit resulted in a nucleus of $400 000, so I think it is fair to call it a success. Indeed, never in the Gallery's history have so few given so much in so short a space of time. Nikko Securities, Meiji Mutual Life Insurance and Nomura Securities are now the first Patrons of the Fund, and Japan Travel Bureau and Hitachi Ltd the first Members. On behalf of the Gallery, it gives me great pleasure to thank those companies most warmly for their generosity. If I may be permitted to use their own language for a brief moment, Iwould just like to say, 'kokoro kara kansha itashimasu'. I hope that other Japanese companies will follow their generous example and that the target of one million dollars which we originally set ourselves will, in due course, be met. The Director and I plan to return to Japan early next year to thank, on their own ground, those companies which have contributed to the Fund and to encourage those which have yet to do so. 1 But, ladies and gentlemen, this is an occasion not only to acknowledge the generosity of five Japanese companies. It gives me, I believe, an appropriate opportunity to say something about Japan itself, a country with which I have had a long involvement as soldier, diplomat, businessman, art collector, member of the Australia Japan Foundation and now as Chairman of the Gallery Trustees. Far too many Australians today-especially those of my generation, but many younger Australians too--when they think about Japan, look back in anger to events which happened almost half a century ago--indeed, before most Australians and Japanese today were born. It is time, I believe, for a change in attitude. We should put the past behind us where it belongs in the limbo of forgotten things and, where Japan is concerned, we should see only the present and look only to the future. If we did this, we would see a Japan in which there is much to admire, much to envy and much to emulate. We would see: 23