This exhibition commemorates the legacy of the Endeavour botanist Daniel Solander and the first encounter between Sweden and the Pacific Region. It features fine art prints by ten leading contemporary New Zealand artists selected to bring a unique vision to this historical event and Solander’s legacy.

It will also feature Australian Indigenous scientific knowledge as a framework to explore engravings of botanical specimens collected in Australia by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander from the national maritime collection. These exquisite coloured engravings, entitled Banks Florilegium, transport the viewer from New Zealand along the Australian coastline in 1770. They were published in the early 1980s from voyage artist drawings.

“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.

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.