Vew from the chair: Speeches of Richard WL Austin

10 Speech at the opening of the exhibition 'Toulouse-Lautrec: Prints and Posters from the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris', 20 August 1991 NOTE: THIS EXHIBITION OF THE WORK OF RENOWNED FRENCH NINETEENTH– CENTURY ARTIST HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC WAS ORGANISED BY THE QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY WITH THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE, PARIS (CURATED BY DEPUTY DIRECTOR CAROLINE TURNER AND M. CLAUDE BOURET OF THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE). IT CONSISTED OF 252 MASTER WORKS, ORIGINAL LITHOGRAPHS AND POSTERS FROM THE ARTIST'S OWN COLLECTION DONATED BY HIS MOTHER, THE COUNTESS DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC, TO THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE IN 190 I. THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE HOLDS THE WORLD'S FINEST COLLECTION OF LAUTREC'S WORKS. THE EXHIBITION WAS AN OUTSTANDING SUCCESS IN BRISBANE, ATTRACTING 85 000 VISITORS, AND WAS SUBSEQUENTLY SHOWN IN MELBOURNE AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA AND AT THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE IN PARIS. THE BILINGUAL (FRENCH/ENGLISH) CATALOGUE WAS PRODUCED BY THE QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY AND WAS USED FOR THE PARIS SHOWING. THE CATALOGUE WAS ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING SCHOLARLY PRODUCTIONS OF THE GALLERY IN THESE YEARS AND ATTRACTED INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION. THE EXHIBITION WAS THE FIRST SUPPORTED BY THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED EXHIBITIONS DEVELOPMENT FUND, AN INITIATIVE OF RICHARD AUSTIN AND DOUG HALL. LOUIS VUITTON WAS THE MAJOR SPONSOR. First of all, I should like to thank the Premier, the Hon. Wayne Goss, for his splendid occasional address. You will appreciate that an occasional address is not like an occasional drink– something that only happens from time to time-but it is a speech that is expressly designed to fit the occasion on which it is delivered. A great occasion deserves a great address and this the Premier has certainly given us. It was a splendid speech in every sense of the word. And not only that, but it served as a reminder-if one were needed, and, of course, it is not-of how lucky the Gallery is to have the constant and wholehearted support of the Premier. Thank you, Sir, very much indeed. It is a great honour for the Gallery to have Mr Gough Whitlam here tonight to open this splendid and unique exhibition. It is a great pleasure for me, personally, to have the task of introducing him, and, in doing so, to indulge in some nostalgic remembrance of things past. Mr Whitlam and I have known each other for more than half a century. Indeed, surprising as it may seem today, for a brief space of time, our early careers ran on more or less parallel lines. We were both undergraduates at the University of Sydney in the years immediately before and after the Second World War, with a slight unavoidable hiatus for service with the Forces; and we took our law degrees in successive years after having been, also in successive years, Associate to the same Judge of the Supreme Court. As very junior barristers, we both appeared before the Royal Commission Enquiring into the Liquor Laws and can, therefore, claim a modicum of credit for the final decision, which allowed Australian men and women, for the first time in many 72