Council ‘to take immediate action’ on art

Mayor Peter Scott said the expenditure was a mark of how highly the works were regarded by the Cook Shire.

The shire council decided at a meeting in Coen last week that urgent action was necessary to preserve the Vera Scarth-Johnson paintings and Banks Florilegium prints.

The alarm was raised earlier this month, when Vera Scarth-Johnson Association secretary Loretta Sullivan reported the air conditioner had been malfunctioning, causing high humidity in the VSJ Gallery and temperatures of up to 34ºC.

“We felt the need to take a proactive stand to make people more aware of the importance of this collection to the people of Cooktown and others,” Mrs Sullivan said.

Mr Scott said once the situation was brought to its attention, the council vowed to take action to purchase a new air conditioner and dehumidifier immediately, without waiting on grant applications and funding.

“We’ve set aside $50,000 in the short term for the replacement costs, and hope we get reimbursed further down the track with funding,” Mr Scott said.

“It is a fair old whack in terms of council expenditure, but is an indication of how much the Cook Shire values these works.”

He said the air conditioner, now 10 years old, was no longer in a good state of repair – nor was it energy efficient by today’s standards.

“I’m hoping things will get moving as quickly as possible,” Mr Scott said.

Former director of the Queensland Herbarium, Robert Johnson, said the Vera Scarth-Johnson collection was one of national significance.

“While many artists have painted Australian plants, few – such as Vera Scarth-Johnson – have combined the qualities needed to be classed as a botanical artist in both a scientific and artistic sense,” Dr Johnson said.
Local historian John Shay described the collection as “unique and irreplaceable”, combining historic and scientific accuracy with artistic integrity.

“Since its donation it has bonded the community together, indigenous and non-indigenous, in the pride generated by owning such prestigious works of art, and in the realisation that the collection has raised general knowledge about this area among the many thousands of visitors who have seen the display since the opening of the gallery,” Mr Shay said.
Ms Sullivan, who spearheaded the VSJ association’s efforts to have the air conditioning unit replaced, said Wednesday that the council decision was excellent news for Cooktown.

“The paintings are closely linked to Captain Cook’s and Joseph Banks’s 48-day stay here at the Endeavour River, when 180 botanical specimens new to science were collected,” she said.

“Vera was an avid conservationist and wanted to record all the plants of the Endeavour River before they became endangered, concentrating on plants collected by Banks while he was here.”

The association would meet at Nature’s PowerHouse on Thursday, October 28, she said.
“We will be having a glass of claret to celebrate Vera’s 98th birthday,” Mrs Sullivan said.
“She would have been very proud of our efforts.”

Issue 487 October 29 2010