Under the Southern Cross: Flying Arts in Australia

Abstract

Flying Arts is one of Queensland's most enduring arts organisations, a counterpart to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and a leading force in advancing Australian arts practices. Through narratives and visual documentation this paper traces the changing processes of organising and providing a diversity of professional contemporary arts practice to remote and regional areas in Australia. As part of tracing the history of the effect of Flying Arts in regional Queensland, stories are being gathered from many folk who have been involved with the organisation over it’s 30 year history. The project is titled Australian Art Stories. The co-ordinator and oral historian for this project is Lesley Jenkins, a Brisbane based freelance writer and oral historian. Lesley brings extensive experience to the position and a love for visual arts. So far she has conducted interviews with artists in Roma, Glenmorgan, Suerat, Mt. Isa and ‘Trivalore’. We are using excerpts from these stories, with others gathered by us to colour our portrait of the organisation.