3
PRIME MINISTER
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
OPENING OF HERMITAGE EXHIBITION
SYDNEY 9 MARCH 1988
One of the highlights of my visit to the Soviet Union late
last year was the tour Hazel and I were able to make of the
Hermitage in Leningrad, home of one of the world's great art
collections. The Hermitage is one of the largest and most venerable art
collecting institutions in the world. As people lucky
enough to have visited it can testify, Its international
renown is well deserved. Its size was conveyed to me by the
director of the Gallery in these terms: that if a visitor
spent only one minute before each item of the collection it
would still take eight years to complete the viewing.
During my visit, I was pleased to pay tribute to the Soviet
authorities responsible for making available to Australia in
1988 this wonderful exhibition of paintings and drawings.
It gives me pleasure to repeat those thanks now.
This very fine gesture to mark the Bicentenary is one to
which I attach particular significance as an indication of
the importance the Soviet Union attaches to relations with
Australia. The exhibition has been made possible under the Cultural
Exchange Agreement between our two countries, an agreement
under which a range of admirable and innovative activities
have over the years enhanced mutual understanding between
Australian and Soviet citizens.
In return for this exhibition and other Soviet cultural
contributions, the Australian Ballet and an Aboriginal art
exhibition will this year tour the Soviet Union. In 1989 a
return exhibition of French art works from this gallery and
the National Gallery of Victoria will be shown in the Soviet
Union. 004967
2.
The Bicentenary has provided a good opportunity to build on
the contacts between our peoples. Australians were thrilled
to join the Soviet cosmonauts in their space station during
the telecast of " Australia Live", which marked the opening
of the Bicentennial Year on 1 January. We are happy too, to
welcome the Soviet Union as one of the 50 or so Govei'nments
participating in world Expo 88 in Brisbane.
within Australia, the director of the Art Gallery of
New South Wales Edmund Capon deserves our thanks and
congratulations for his work in creating the exhibition.
It gives me particular pleasure to declare the exhibition
open and in doing so I offer congratulations to all those
responsible, both in Australia and in the Soviet Union, for
their work over a number of years to bring these Leningrad
masterpieces to Australian audiences.
With the benefit of my partial preview of this exhibition in
Leningrad, I can assert with confidence that it will prove a
memorable experience for all who see it in Australia 0 0496G8