Landfall

Landfall was one of three exhibitions the NGV held in 1970 to mark the bicentenary of James Cook’s first landing in Australia and the associated 1970 Royal Visit. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and featured work by the biggest names in Australian painting, including Charles Blackman, Charles Conder, Grace Cossington-Smith, Grace Crowley, Russel Drysdale, E. Phillips Fox, Joy Hester, Roy de Maistre, Fred McCubbin, Sidney Nolan, John Olsen, Margaret Preston, Norma Redpath, Tom Roberts, Constance Stokes, Arthur Streeton, Albert Tucker, Brett Whitely and Fred Williams. A small selection of sculpture, decorative arts, pottery, fashion, furniture, stained glass and design objects were also featured.

While the exhibition claimed to ‘present a history of art in Australia’, there was a notable absence of First Nations art, although depictions of Indigenous Australians were a feature of many of the works. The exceptions were two watercolour landscapes by Albert Namatjira and Edwin Pareroultja, two ceremonial paintings by William Barak (credited to ‘King Billy, King of the Yarra Tribe of Aboriginals’), and a bark painting loaned from the National Museum of Victoria (now the Melbourne Museum) that was credited only to an ‘Australian Aboriginal’.