Art and science collide in our celebration of Sir Joseph Banks’ Florilegium, an extraordinary documentation of the plant life of the east coast of Australia, undertaken on the Endeavour’s Voyage of Discovery.

The exhibition coincides with the 250th anniversary year of the Endeavour expedition to Australia, the International Year of Plant Health and National Science Week.

To comply with COVIDSafe measures, bookings are essential for visits to Parliament House.

The exhibition will run from 18 August until 8 November 2020 and forms part of the free guided tour of Parliament House. Alternatively, you may wish to see the exhibition as part of the paid-for art and furniture collections guided tour.

Image: Banks' Florilegium, Banksia serrata (Proteaceae), 1983. Line engraving by Gabriel Smith (1724-1783) after Sydney Parkinson (c.1745-1771) and John Frederick Miller (1759-1796) Courtesy of Parliament House Art Collection, Department of Parliamentary Services, Canberra, ACT. © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum and Alecto.

Australian Parliament House and its grounds are filled with artistic expressions of Australia’s history, culture and landscape.

This online experience gives you a unique opportunity to explore in fine detail the exquisite artworks associated with Sir Joseph Banks’ Florilegium, an extraordinary documentation of the plant life of the east coast of Australia, collected by Banks on the Endeavour’s Pacific voyage (1768 to 1771). 

Artworks include the marquetry panels in the Parliament House Marble Foyer and the Florilegium itself, held in the Parliament House Art Collection. The high-resolution imagery will let you explore the works as never before, while highlighting relationships between the Florilegium, Parliament House and original specimens collected by Banks along the east coast of Australia.

Captain James Cook’s three historic voyages across the Pacific Ocean 1768-1780 are breaking news – especially in Australia this year. New information, interpretations and images about his voyages make them not simply past events but also currently occurring and developing stories. This exhibition showcases original engravings from the Lionel Lindsay Gallery and Library Collection’s extensive holdings of Cook literature as well as contemporary artworks that present alternative and Indigenous views of Cook’s voyages.

Image: Rew HANKS | Stop! There's no need to shoot the natives 2013 | linocut | edition 22/30 | 75 x 100cm | Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery – Toowoomba City Collection 2331 | Reproduced by kind permission © the artist

“We defy: By existing; By determining our identity; By asserting our histories; our culture; our language; By telling our stories, our way; By being one of the oldest continuous living cultures in the world.” 
 Tina Baum, NGA Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

From the National Gallery of Australia, Defying Empire commemorates the 50th anniversary of 1967 Referendum that recognised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australians for the first time. It explores the ongoing resilience of Australia’s Indigenous people since first contact, through to the historical fight for recognition and ongoing activism to the present day. The exhibition will be hosted by the Australian National Maritime Museum from 25 November 2020 to 7 February 2021.

Image: Sandra Hill, Double Standards. 2015. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Purchased 2016 with the support of Warwick Hemsley and The Hon Melissa Parke, to mark Mr Hemsley’s tenure on Council and in recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum.