John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last weekend was a big one for the small town of Coraki, in northern New South Wales, because it was the weekend of the Coraki Art Prize. Some 260 people turned out for the opening night, on the Friday, and over 500 visited the show on Saturday and Sunday. There were 330 entries in the show—paintings, drawings, prints, photos and sculptures.

Coraki is a small, picturesque village on the banks of the Richmond River. Once a thriving centre of commerce based on riverboat trade in timber and dairy products, it even boasted its own shipbuilding industry. Coraki now has a population of around 1,200, a third of them proud members of the local original Indigenous Bundjalung community.

The Coraki Art Prize dates back to 1998, when three generous, civic-minded members of the community, Sharon Mackie, Kate Welch and Narelle Jarvis, took the initiative to establish the art show and, over the years, turned it into the major cultural event in the town, attracting entries from talented artists all over the Northern Rivers region in New South Wales.

After 10 years of dedicated effort, supported by a loyal band of volunteers, the founding committee found itself, for many reasons, unable to continue to organise the show. In 2008 there was no show, to the great disappointment of the Coraki community and the artists of the Northern Rivers. Among those who were disappointed were two recently arrived and recently retired members of the Coraki community, Melva and George Thompson, who volunteered to revive the show.

Along with others, Melva and George formed a new art show committee and, with the guidance of the original committee, re-established the show in 2009. The show has continued to grow since then and, once again, it has become a major annual event for the community of Coraki and the surrounding district.

Because of its popularity with regional artists, the art prize is now held at two venues in Coraki—the Coraki Conference Centre and the Anglican church hall. And this year the auxiliary of the Coraki hospital, which is adjacent to the conference centre, held its annual fundraising market on the same weekend as the art show.

It is fair to say that Melva Thompson has been the driving force behind the art prize, particularly since George returned to the workforce in 2009—a return for which I think I bear some responsibility! The success of the event is a great credit to her untiring efforts in promoting the prize and raising the necessary sponsorship that an event such as this requires.

The Coraki Art Prize is entirely dependent on sponsorship and fundraising. It costs about $13,000 to run each year. The art prize offers over $9,000 in prize money, with a Best in Show award of $2,000, entirely financed by the local businesses of Coraki, which is not bad for a such a small country community.

Congratulations go to this year's Best in Show Standing falling angels, a drawing by the well-known Lismore artist John Smith, a senior lecturer at the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Southern Cross University. Congratulations also go to all the other deserving winners in categories such as painting, drawing, Aboriginal art, printmaking, sculpture, photography and youth art.

I am very pleased to have been associated with the art prize for the past three years by hosting a quiz night fundraiser event at the Coraki Golf Club. We held this year's quiz night in September, and I am delighted to inform the Senate this evening that it attracted around 200 attendees and raised the handsome sum of $3,500 for the art prize.

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can tell from the reaction in the chamber that there is a lot of interest in the Coraki Art Prize. I want to say to senators and any who might be listening, and I certainly hope some are listening in Coraki tonight, that you can find out more about the quiz night and the Coraki Art Prize on the website www.corakiartprize.org.au. I commend this to interested senators.

Events like the Coraki Art Prize, whether they be in sport, art, music, theatre or other endeavours, are the glue that binds together small country communities like that of Coraki and so many other rural and regional communities in New South Wales and right around Australia. I say they are very deserving of the support and encouragement of all of us who serve in the parliament.

Honourable senators: Hear, hear!

I am pleased to hear that response from senators who so warmly and strongly agree. I congratulate all those whose hard work in the local community of Coraki has made the Coraki Art Prize such a success.

Finally, let me record that the principal judge at this year's Coraki art show was Kylie Scroope, who I believe is the Director of Art Services here in Parliament House and responsible for the management of the parliament's extensive art collection. And I can finally say that the organisers of the Coraki Art Prize and art show were quick to tell me that Kylie was born—yes, you guessed it—in Coraki.