Now that I am retired (well, not officially til July, but I am not planning to ever go back to the office), I do not think that I will ever have cause to visit Canberra again. Much as Blue Poles is now a part of Australian cultural history due to the initial controversy followed by the gradual acceptance, I do not see the National Gallery of Australia as particularly appealing, and I have been there, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum (with its restored FJ Holden) and the Museum of Australian Democracy (ie Old Parliament House) several times. The only appeal about the bunker which is the current Parliament House is the copy of Magna Carta on display, although there are a lot of notable artworks there. Nor do I think that Floriade is enough of an event to draw me. The reality of Canberra to me is subzero winters in Belconnen, and I have done my fair share of those over the years.
The one thing which might inspire me to visit the nation’s capital again is the Australian War Memorial, and in particular, the Hall of Memory. In there, the solemn stained glass windows and mosaics not only remind us of the sacrifices made to keep Australia free from foreign invasion and tyranny, but they are breathtaking artworks.
Their creator, Mervyn Napier Waller, was quite a talented artist, more so because he lost an arm in the First World War and all of his great works were created in the ensuing half century.
Melbourne is lucky in that, within walking distance of the National Gallery of Victoria, there are many of his works available to view.
And some which require a bit of effort.
But Melbourne really is an open plan gallery of Waller’s works.
Yesterday I did a guided tour of the Melbourne Town Hall, a building we all know by sight, but which few of us ever bother venturing within. There are many interesting things in there, and I daresay that it is a grander building than the Victorian Parliament less than half a mile away. What drew me there was the chance to see several of Napier Waller’s works held within. The main concert hall within the town hall has over a dozen panels on the upper walls, painted with faint friezes of classical scenes by Waller.
These are not his best works, by any stretch of the imagination, not if you have been to the Hall of Memory.
But these are only a sampling of what you can find in Melbourne.
Around the corner in Collins Street, on the south side between Swanston and Elizabeth Streets, all you need to do is look up slightly and you will see a mosaic with a scene from Midsummer Night’s Dream, encaptioned ‘I will put a girdle about the Earth’. Then hop on a tram down to William Street to the former State Electricity Commission HQ, where a spectacular mosaic of Prometheus, complete with a quote from Aeschylus, greets you in the foyer. Breathtaking.
Not far from there opposite Market Street is another of his works, but apparently concealed due to building modifications since Waller placed it there. Tragic.
Hop back on the tram and circle to the State Library, and there is another of his works on display, dedicated to peace after the First World War. Venture north to the University of Melbourne and you can do a scavenger hunt for his works. In the main art gallery there is a stained glass of his, salvaged from Old Wilson Hall after the fire. One of the libraries has another of his works, although I have never been able to make the time to find it. And a minor stained glass window of his is in one of the departments in the Science faculty (Botany if I recall correctly).
Then you might head back into the city to try accessing others. His stained glass is in Wesley Church (try to choose a day when they are doing an organ recital at lunchtime as they don’t always keep the church open). Another mural is in Florentino’s, which almost is enough to make me want to eat there (my tastes are not usually that fancy). And if you happen to go shopping in what is now the Versace store just down from the Athenaeum Club in Collins Street, you will be lucky enough to see another mural.
That is not all. Some of his works are in churches in the inner eastern suburbs.
Indeed, now that I am retired, I might go onto try looking for those out in the suburbs, not that I am a church going type. I doubt that there is any other artist in Australia who is so hidden in plain sight.
Lost For Words! 