Allan Hawke
Australian High Commissioner to
New Zealand


Someone once said something to the effect that a life unexamined was not worth living. The search for meaning is always there in the background as we go about our daily activities.

Robert Hughes pointed to the ability of artists to offer us a 'glimpse of a universe into which we can move without strain. It is not the world as it is, but as our starved senses desire it to be: neither hostile nor indifferent, but full of meaning - the terrestrial paradise whose gate was not opened by the mere fact of birth.'

Those who take the time to 'smell the roses' come to appreciate the way in which artists seduce us into being active participants in constructing meaning around their work from our own gestalt.

As sometime eclectic collectors of Australiana, my wife and I have already purchased some pottery and a fine oil painting by young New Zealand artists. We intend to add more to the collection during our term here.