17 October 2013 - Treasure Island Caravan Park, Berriedale, Tasmania

Flattering reflections in the MONA courtyard

It didn’t really matter that there was little improvement in the weather because we had only one destination. Today was set aside for a visit to the jewel in Hobart’s crown; MONA; the Museum of Old and New, an attraction which we were intent on visiting no matter what the cost. As it turned out, the Museum is free to Tasmanians and those under eighteen years of age, and just $20 for adults, with a $5 discount for seniors; worth every cent. Of course the management would hope that the visitors spend their excess tourist dollars in the cafes and restaurants, perhaps buy some wine or even arrange their funerals. Because this is a very unusual place set on the Moorilla Estate Vineyard, on the Berriedale Peninsula virtually next door to our camp. We could easily have walked but did actually think we would be going on to do something else later in the day.

It is the largest privately funded museum in Australia, the showcase of art and antiquities from David Walsh’s collection. Walsh, aged only a little over fifty, accumulated his wealth from gambling, a rather shameful way of making money, however shares his ill-gotten gains in the most marvellous way.

He first opened the Moorilla Museum of Antiquities on the same site back in 2001 however it was not until this older showcase was closed and $75 million renovations carried out, that the museum gained national acclaim. MONA was officially opened in January 2011; the owner jokes that nobody came to his first art gallery so he made sure that nobody could ignore his second, described as macabre and ungodly by some.

Perhaps the description is a bit much, however there is much here that is indeed confronting and it is not the sort of gallery you take your grandkids along to, or your children if they are much under 18. We spent nearly seven hours there absorbing the antiquities from Mesopotamia, Egypt and Cyprus, paintings, sculptures and video works by international artists  with a much of the work coming out of Turkey, Hungary, Austria and Switzerland. Most was very modern and most thought provoking if not enjoyable.

Outdoor sculpture in MONA courtyard

If funds were terribly tight, it would be pleasure enough to drive into the venue and wander about the public areas without even entering the gallery, because the views and environment are really spectacular. Peacocks, Tasmanian hens, rabbits and Guinea fowls share the grassy spaces with weird and wonderful sculptural work.

The new museum was designed by Melbourne architect Nonda Katsalidis and built by Hansen Yuncken, whose names do not sound as if they are simply the guys next door. Most of the three level structure is built into the cliffs around the peninsula and effectively underground. Massive iron walls, sculptures and beautiful granite spaces around well designed gardens all enhance the cultural experience. Many tourists choose to take the MONA ferry from the city waterfront for $20 return or the MONA Roma bus for the same, although I would have to say the ferry alternative must give the punter a far better experience as they alight at the base of the cliff and take the long stairway up into the complex. Or they can catch the bus available from the city bus terminal for about a third of the price.

The gallery which is as big as the state galleries of Western Australia, South Australia and Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art, has no wall labels to explain the work. Instead visitors are issued with iPod type devices which are just brilliant. These clever little machines offer simple descriptions as well as comments and stories by curators or the owner himself, interviews and musical accompaniment. Hour by hour as we progressed through the galleries we grew more appreciative of the modest fee payable to enjoy this experience.

The four hundred or so artistic works are apparently worth $100 million or more and include some rather controversial pieces: Wim Delvoye’s Cloaca Professional which mimics the human digestive system, fed twice a day and defecates once a day, a rather smelly affair, the remains of a suicide bomber's remains sculptured out of chocolate by Stephen Shanabrook, Chris Ofili’s The Holy Virgin  exhibited in New York only after confirmation that the US Constitution allowed such a “blasphemous” work, to name but three.

Interestingly there is a rather unusual and special service offered by this operation; for $75,000 you can receive Eternity Membership which includes enjoyment of parties, catalogues, annoying pamphlets, “being sucked up to” (to quote the promotional material) and on your death, cremation and permanent residence in a fancy jar in the museum. The owner’s father has already exercised the benefits of his membership although he may not have had to pay full price for the honour.

Aside from the delight of discovering MONA, matters here in Hobart seem to be all about fire. The Tasmanian Fire Service report about the hideous fires of January this year has just been released and the grief is being relived. We missed out on all this, or rather the news of this; we were back in New Zealand, and just as Australia has little to say about New Zealand in their newspapers, New Zealand seems to find only remote columns for Australian news. We will be travelling through the devastated area in the next few days when we head for Port Arthur so no doubt I will have more to say then.

In the meantime the news tonight is full of the fires surrounding Sydney. It is feared that as many as one hundred homes have been lost over the past day or two. There is good news however on the economic front; the US Senate has approved a measure to end the government shutdown and thus avert catastrophic default. However Syria continues with no respite.

And the weather? Still windy and squally but tomorrow should be better. I do hope so because we are planning a full day’s excursion into the Tasmanian wilderness.