Paul Calvert’s history gaffe

TASMANIAN ABORIGINAL writer Greg Lehman stormed out.

The President of the Senate, Tasmanian Liberal Senator Paul Calvert was oblivious.

But many of those who heard his blunder looked stunned.

The scene was the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart on Thursday night, where hundreds of people had gathered for the official opening of “National Treasures”, a travelling exhibition drawn from the nation’s public libraries, curated by the National Library of Australia in Canberra.

China could celebrate thousands of years of national treasures, Calvert said, England could celebrate hundreds of years, but Australia could only celebrate 200 years.

It was too much for Lehman, who charged out. He was furious: “‘National treasures’ defines a nation. But it’s only about 200 years. It’s only about Australia post European invasion, there’s nothing that pre-dates the colonial domain.

“Calvert’s representing the Arts minister, Rod Kemp, at an official launch and his speech very, very clearly represents the Government’s attitude to Aboriginal Australia. We don’t exist.”

I missed the speech by TMAG Trustees chairman Sir Guy Green — a former Tasmanian Governor and Chief Justice, who adopted two Aboriginal sons and has several Aboriginal grandchildren. Asked if he tried to rectify Calvert’s gaffe, Crikey was told he let it pass.

In her foreword in the catalogue, Jan Fullerton, director-general of the National Library, says the exhibition covers “the period from pre-European settlement to the present.”

What? Well … it does include charts and journals by early European navigators.

Crikey expects Kemp will bask in reflected glory at the grand opening in Paris next month of Musee du Quai Branley, in which vast works by eight Aboriginal artists have been embedded in its walls, ceiling and glass frontages.

But that’s a different story.