Good evening, all and a very warm welcome to Government House.
I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Jagera and Turrbal people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
As Governor and Patron of many arts organisations in Queensland, including our State galleries, I am delighted that you have all been able to accept the invitation to join Graeme and me for this special dinner tonight in support of Queensland’s art galleries.
The galleries you represent perform a vital function in our State and tonight’s dinner gives me an opportunity to congratulate you all on your ongoing efforts and commitment.
As a collective, you provide cultural enrichment, foster creativity and local pride, and enhance the wellbeing of your communities.
By presenting and promoting the work of local artists you not only celebrate the unique character and culture of your regions, but stimulate the local economy and become a catalyst for positive social change. And your open, welcoming presence is a powerful statement to visitors and residents alike that art and artists matter to that community, and on behalf of all Queenslanders, I thank you for that.
Here at Government House, we are privileged to enjoy a wonderful, long-standing relationship with the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, and I take this opportunity to thank Chris Staines for the support he and his staff give me in my role as Governor.
That support enables me to promote our State to visitors and international guests by displaying works by some of our State’s most celebrated artists as well as works by our Indigenous peoples.
It also enables me to showcase the land itself and its immense variety.
The current selection in the Drawing Room takes visitors on a visual journey from Tamborine Mountain, Surfers Paradise and the Glasshouse Mountains, to the rural landscape around Stanthorpe, and then to a typical North Queensland cane town and the blue, blue waters of Torres Strait.
Here in the Dining Room, we currently enjoy the company of this marvellous Margaret Olley still-life, but I’m thrilled that, in December, thanks to the initiative of Holly Arden and the Perc Tucker Gallery, we will be displaying two award-winning works from the Percivals in this room.
I saw the Percivals exhibition when I visited Townsville in July and I’m very pleased that we’ll be able to use our Christmas Lights tours of the House to promote the competition, the artists and the gallery itself to thousands of visitors.
Art galleries are vitally important because they invite the viewing public to engage with different perspectives, question their own beliefs, and consider complex ideas about identity, society, and the human experience.
That vision is at the core of celebrated institutions like the Louvre, but it is also fundamental to every art gallery, large or small, in this State, and I thank you for all that you do to nurture and sustain it.
