Gondwana's Garden Closing Ceremony

President, Terry Johnson's Speech

"Welcome to the closing ceremony of selected works  from the Gondwana's Garden  exhibition and the  much awaited drawing of the Mossman Botanic Gardens raffle.

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are meeting. I pay my respects to their Elders, past and present, and the Elders from other communities who may be here today.

Invited guests  Mayor Julia Leu

Gondwana’s Garden was an exhibition that combined the works of more than 20 artists from Cairns and Port Douglas to celebrate the origins of the beautiful country in which we live and in particular the beauty of our spectacular tropical rainforest.

The exhibition drew approximately 2000 viewers to the Tanks gallery in the Cairns Botanic Gardens and has received acclaim for its high professional standard and its innovative approach to combining scientific information with interpretive art.

The Gondwana’s Garden exhibition was made possible with a grant from the Regional Arts Development Fund and artists themselves as well as
the professional direction of Jill Booth project coordinator.

Community support for this venture was generous and I would like to thank:

  • The Regional Arts Development Fund committee

  • Gaylene Sheather from our Council’s Native Plant Nursery whose advice and knowledge never fail to amaze me and whom has grown and provided the plants of ancient origin that are here on display this evening.

  • Norman Manelli for assistance in supplying the canvases used for the Botanic Garden raffle project

  • Knock Out Events for provision of wine

  • Chris Stannard, Tanks Curator, for his advice and organizing skills

  • Arts Officer Helen Coulthard for her advice and guidance to me regarding grant applications and issues of public events

  • And Mayor Julia Leu for both her opening and closing commitments to the exhibition.


The exhibition was layered with a second goal and that was to produce four collaborate paintings that would be used as a focal point to again bring to the public attention the Mossman Botanic Garden project whilst gathering funds to assist with ongoing costs.

Artists from our group that painted the four equal first place works are Yoshiko Kirby, Terry Johnson, Jill Booth, Marie Hoglund, Jeff Whitehill, Joy Shand Culley, Mary Ann Runciman and Belinda Williams.

It is now my pleasure to call upon Mayor Julia Leu  once again to speak of the project.



Gondwana's Garden

Port Douglas Artists

Art in Tropical Australia Home Page