Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

assisted by his charming wife, he became widely known as a generous and discriminating host in both Melbourne and Sydney, surrounding himself with an interesting coterie of people drawn from business, politics, academia and the arts. Australia was his last posting. Before that he had been Ambassador to Israel and had earlier served in Rome, Warsaw, Damascus and New York, as well as in the Foreign Office itself. Before that again, he had fought in the Korean War, as a young Captain in the Royal Ulster Rifles. With such a career behind him, one might perhaps have expected Sir John to assume a life of gentle retirement close to a golf course in the south of England or to a beach in the south of France. Instead, he chose Australia-not as a country in which to retire but as one in which to carve out a new and different career which promises to be just as distinguished as his former one. He is already a Director of more than a dozen companies, trusts and foundations which cover a broad spectrum of interests, with his Chairmanship of the Prudential Assurance Company at the top of the list. His association with Queensland arises from his Chairmanship of Kawana Estates, a company which is developing a splendid stretch of beachfront land on the Sunshine Coast. I think you will agree that we could not have found a more appropriate person to open this exhibition and I have no doubt that he will do it with the erudition and eloquence that it deserves. For it is a splendid collection that awaits us. You may recall that when that great wit, Oscar Wilde, landed in New York to begin his famous lecture tour of America, he was asked by a Customs Official if he had anything to declare. 'Only genius', was his modest reply. That same declaration could well have been made by the Curator of the masterpieces which comprise this exhibition, when he first landed in Australia with them, 'Only genius'-and that is what we are going to see tonight. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to ask Sir John Mason to address us and to declare the exhibition open. 48