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- 27 February 2001
Maitland International Salon Of Photography
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Page: 11939
Mr PRICE (Maitland) [6.25 p.m.]: I inform the House of a magnificent photography exhibition known as the Maitland International Salon of Photography, which is held annually in Maitland as part of the Maitland Show. This year the exhibition was opened by the mayor of Maitland, and three international prizes were awarded to exhibitors. One such exhibitor was Mr Jim Thomson, chairman of the exhibition in Maitland. Mr Thomson is a gentleman with many years experience in recreational photography. I was previously unaware of the exhibition, which comprises the best of more than 2,800 entries from 43 countries around the world. However, Sydney and Maitland are the only two places in Australia where the exhibition is held annually, and Adelaide is the only place where it is held every second year.
This is a significant international and well-recognised display of amateur photography. It should be on the tourist program of the city of Maitland so that it receives the recognition it deserves. The exhibition is held in the showground and displayed for a week during show time. The exhibition area is misleading; the external area is clad in galvanised iron. Yet inside, the show society and the photography exhibition team worked to put together an incredible display that is visible and well attended, not only by many locals but by many others throughout New South Wales. The efforts of the local committee are formidable. The exhibition has been held in the Maitland area for 65 years, but it has not received proper recognition. International displays of this nature are extraordinarily hard to obtain yet access to the exhibition in Maitland is extremely easy. I should like to quote from a letter by Mrs Joy Kelly, secretary, who stated:
Jim Thomson our new President has approached a contact in Photography in Orange with the proposition we take the accepted entries from the Maitland 2001 Salon all done as Slides to Orange on 3rd February 2001 to allow the people there and the Photographers who support us with their entries to view this Salon. The Orange contact Helmut Berndt approached Orange Council with this proposal. Result was Orange Council wants 2 Matinees on Saturday the 3rd February and 1 night showing of the Salon acceptances. The Orange Council has given us as the venue for this event The Orange Regional Library. Jim Thomson has also arranged a night viewing of this event at Belmont Sailing Club for 7th February 2001. As usual we have Opening Night here in Maitland on 12th February and then operate each night until Maitland Show closes on the 17th February 2001.
It was an extraordinary exhibition. It covered everything imaginable—the environment, wildlife, human form and landscape studies. The quality was obviously of the best. It is a world-class international salon exhibition and one that I would commend to all my colleagues in this House. I hope that the Maitland salon group are able to increase the coverage of the exhibition and its advertising in future years. And I hope that the local tourism organisation picks up this exhibition and runs with it. It is too valuable an exhibition to treat as an offhand, part-time arrangement. I give full credit to the committee and look forward to the committee being able to spread its wings in the near future and gain the recognition that it rightly deserves.
Mr MARKHAM (Wollongong—Parliamentary Secretary) [6.30 p.m.]: The honourable member for Maitland has brought to the attention of the House a very important photographic exhibition—which apparently not too many people know about even though it has been held in Maitland for 60 years. It seems extraordinary that the honourable member for Maitland has only recently become aware of it, but I congratulate him on having raised the issue. I am something of a keen photographer myself and I know how much joy people get from experimenting with cameras and being able to display their talents where people can look at them. As a matter of fact over the past two years I have had a couple of feature articles in the Illawarra Mercury. There is no better recognition that one can get than to be able to see one's work displayed either publicly or in a newspaper. Once again I congratulate the honourable member for Maitland.
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