Legacy: The Norrie Collection and portraits from Government House collection.
Opening Night Speech from the Governor General our NZPG Patron

The speech was delivered by the Chief Justice, the Right Hon. Dame Sian Elias who acts as Governor General in the GG's absence. The Governor General was in Turkey for Anzac commemorations.

E ngä mana. E ngä reo. E ngä rau rangatira. Tënä Koutou Katoa.

I bring you warm greetings from His Excellency the Governor General. As we open this exhibition which brings alive our inherited history, he is on his way to participate in the commemoration of the landings at Gallipoli, a turning point in our development as an independent nation. If not there, he would have been here, because this exhibition is one he, pardonably, takes some proprietary interest in. And he would very much like to have launched these old friends in their temporary housing, where it is his hope they will be admired by many New Zealanders.

His Excellency’s message is as follows:

In His Excellency’s absence, I am privileged to stand in for him. When Sir Michael Hardie-Boys asked me to do so, he said that I might say something myself, “perhaps from a personal viewpoint as an occasional occupant of Government House” about this important exhibition.

One of the curious features of our constitutional arrangements is that when the Governor General is out of the country, the Chief Justice steps up. It’s a flickering status. So, while I don’t want to sound like Eliza Doolittle who aspired to the familiarity of calling the court, St Jim, and I can’t claim like Sir Michael to be on intimate terms with the works displayed here, I have been fortunate to be on nodding terms with them. Perhaps bowing terms would be more proper.

It is also a real pleasure to be at this opening of an exhibition put on by the New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Te Pukenga Whakaata. It was formed, as this audience knows, by a group of public spirited New Zealanders in 1989. They rightly saw a real gap in our national institutions. And recognised that nothing brings a national history and culture alive like images of the people who shape them. Those who formed the Trust, and those who have continued to serve it in the years since in all capacities, have aspired to reflect our heritage through a national gallery. This exhibition is the latest in a series of outstanding attractions put on with very little in the way of visible support. The success of the Trust is a tribute to the hard work, enthusiasm and resourcefulness of hands-on supporters. If they were not so eminent, I would say that this is grass roots movement. Hand to mouth isn’t a bad way to grow an institution from scratch. And it is clear from the pulling power of the exhibitions, lectures and other events put on by the Trust that the Gallery has increasing wider public support. That can only be enhanced by this location and support of the Wellington City Council and Wellington Waterfront Ltd for this facility for the capital and the country. So I would like to congratulate the trustees and the Director, Avenal McKinnon and all who work for the programmes and the exhibitions.

One of the good things about those who work close to grass-roots but have eminence is that they keep their ears to the ground and, in my experience, are pretty good at twisting the odd arm. The Governor-General’s misfortune in having to vacate Government House for its refurbishment, was Sir Michael’s opportunity. I don’t know if he had to twist any arms. But it was an inspired thought to keep the works on display here out of the crates and make them accessible to the New Zealand public.

The exhibition also provides an opportunity to reflect on the role of the monarch and the sovereign’s representative in New Zealand. The beautiful catalogue produced by Erin Griffey contains important essays on how portraits of the sovereign were acquired for New Zealand, explanations of the Government House collections, and a biography of Lord Norrie by Mr O’Shea. That is in addition to the illustrated catalogue of the paintings and other works. Sir Willoughby Norrie’s generous gift of British royal portraits is the backbone of the exhibition. But the catalogue refers also to the generosity to New Zealand of successive Governor’s general. And also to their sense of fun and lack of pretension, demonstrated in the cartoons and other modern works.

Although it is right that Governors General today are New Zealanders, I am not sure that it is sufficiently appreciated how significant English Governors-General have been in the development of a sense of New Zealand identity. We should all shudder to think how nearly we lost Waitangi before Lord and Lady Bledisloe stepped in. And one of the star pieces in this exhibition was the very important work of Sir Nathaniel Dance given by Viscount Galway to Government House in 1941. And the collections of porcelain and other objects in Government House show the generosity of many other inhabitants.

The Norrie Collection is a very special. Both because it links us with half our heritage in a tangible form. But also because it represents a personal commitment to obtain these historical works, by a man who was larger than life in many ways. It is nice to acknowledge his gift in this way. And we can be sure he would have been very pleased to see these paintings so appreciated and available to be seen by a wider audience.

The first time I met the works usually displayed in the dining room was at a beautiful dinner party and long before I became Chief Justice. I was there as a spouse. I sat star-struck and entranced. That is until we were nearly blasted us out of our seats at the end of the evening by the Queen’s personal piper. Her Majesty was I thought amused to see the consternation. Before then, by candle-light, I had studied the portraits of the royals and the Protector, as odd man out. And been pleased afterwards to discover that I had successfully identified all but Prince George of Denmark. The reason why I was able to do this was because, in the far off times when I was young, the then equivalent of Google or face book and the things that amuse the children of today were the big picture junior encyclopaedias. Mine was an Odhams I think. Anyway it had a chart in the shape of a river snaking around a 2 page spread of the kings and queens of England. And the images of these monarchs were taken from the same or very similar models on which the portraits in the Norrie collection were patterned. Such images, from a time before photographs, stick in the memory. Shared in this way they become folk memories and are powerful conditioners of our perceptions of social history and the heritage we share.

The pull exerted by putting a human face to our past is why the New Zealand Portrait Gallery exists. This exhibition is therefore perfect for this Gallery. And will be enjoyed by very many New Zealanders. I congratulate all those who have pulled it off. And acknowledge with gratitude the Governors General, including His Excellency, Sir Anand Satyanand, who have made it possible.

See the map on our shed 11 page or go to this external site for a map to Shed 11