AS Winston Churchill once observed, “of all the small nations on earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpass the Scots in their contribution to mankind.”
Indeed, the contribution of Scots to Australia will be on display in coming months at For Auld Lang Syne, a new major art exhibition to be held at the historic goldmining city of Ballarat in Australia between April and July this year.
Six years in the making, the exhibition brings together artworks and objects from across Australia and overseas to mark the extraordinary contribution by the Scots to the cultural, social, and political life of the Australian nation.
Gordon Morrison, Director of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, which is staging For Auld Lang Syne said the exhibition will take the viewer on “a journey from First Fleet to Federation, delving into details such as fashion, sport, high art and whisky and bringing all manner of curious stories to the surface.”
The exhibition has been designed with the intention of “unveiling facts, stories and fairytales” about the relationship between Scotland and Australia.
“The exhibition, its own way, is a fresh contribution towards building Australia’s understanding of its extraordinary cultural inheritance,” added Mr Morrison.
The exhibition is curated by Dr Alison Inglis, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Melbourne, and Patricia Tryon Macdonald, who was previously curator for Exiles and Emigrants: Epic Journeys to Australia in the Victorian Era at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.
Dr Inglis and Ms Macdonald said that For Auld Lang Syne “seeks to enrich our understanding of this country’s colonial past, especially that period’s art and visual culture, by concentrating on the contribution of a particular dynamic section of Australia’s populace – the Scottish migrants.”
“As curators, we have been fascinated by the complex networks of creativity and patronage that emerged as we investigated the various individuals, families and organisations that made up Scottish Australia in the nineteenth century.”
Nearly 1.8 million people in Australia today claim Scottish heritage, and there is no shortage of evidence for their ancestors’ contributions. The exhibition brings together over 300 items of historical and artistic significance, and the major art galleries and museums of Australia have lent items, as has the Natural History Museum in London. Private owners and smaller cultural organisations have also shared their art and artefacts.
The curators said, “it has been a humbling experience to grapple with the enormous range of our subject. We have had to make difficult decisions on what to include and exclude, because the depth and range of the Scots’ contribution to the development of Australia is extraordinary.”
“The cultural contribution of the Scots has produced a rich legacy for all Australians of every nationality that continues to the present day,” they added
The exhibition includes works by the well-known colonial artists, Eugene von Guérard and John Glover, in addition to other items such as a late-nineteenth century sculpture of the famous Scottish Australian operatic soprano, Dame Nellie Melba, and ornate furniture made for the Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, who was born in 1762 on an island off the west coast of the Scottish Highlands.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue that includes essays and articles by leading scholars on various aspects of the Scottish presence in Australia from 1788 to 1901.
There will also be an extensive schedule of complementary events and programs, including public talks by experts and a symposium for academics who are currently researching the Scots in Australia.