Lasseter's Last Ride

The AWU sponsored an exhibition of art works by John Bartlett inspired by the legend of Lasseter's Gold. This is Bill Shorten's speech at the opening of the exhibition.

In the hight of the great depression Harold Bell Lasseter walked into the National Office of the Australian Workers' Union in Sydney. He had sought a meeting with the Big John Bailey - who was then National President of the AWU. Bailey was a colourful character who had been at the centre of much of the conflict that plagued the NSW Labor Party during the first two decades of the last century. Originally a shearer Bailey become an elected official with the AWU in 1901 and then proceeded to rise quickly through the ranks of the union, he was a member of the NSW Parliament for five years and led the NSW Federal Branch of the ALP during the Lang Labor split.

Lasseter who could also be described as a colourful character had at the age of 20 attempted to walk from Alice Springs to the West Australian coast. He was prospecting for rubies and became lost. Whilst he was wondering the desert trying to find his bearings he stumbled across a gold reef. He collected a bag of specimen gold and tried to make his way back to civilization. However he became hopelessly lost and was eventually found by an Afghan camel driver who took him to a surveyors camp nearby.

At the camp he met up with a surveyor called Harding and together they trekked out into the desert again to find the reef - legend has it that they found the reef and took their bearings with their watches and then return to the settlement of Carnavon to form a proper expedition - however when they got to Carnavon they discovered that their watches were substantially incorrect and therefore the bearings they took would be inaccurate by huge distances.

As the years passed Lasseter continued his attempt to re-locate his reef - but to no avail and eventually he ended up in the offices of the AWU trying to convince the union's president of the authenticity of his claim.

Bailey, undertook some investigations and eventually decided to go into business with Lasseter to find the reef. They founded a company and raised 5,000 pounds to finance their operations. As the legend goes Lasseter was apparently over-joyed - his time finally had come after almost thirty years.

However the new expedition was plagued with disasters from the beginning - their plane crashed - they discovered the area of the country they would have to cover was substantially larger then first thought - their plane crashed again - fights broke out between the men and eventually Lasseter was left yet again lost and thirsty in the desert.

According to the legend Lasseter found his reef again and then headed back to civilisation - however he died along the way and the reef was never re-found. In central Australia debate still rages over wether Lasseter's Reef really did exist and in recent years several more expeditions have been launched to find the treasure - but these too have led to no new findings.

It is this famous story of Lasseter's adventure which was put to paper by Ion Idriess in the classic Australian Adventure yarn Lasseter's Last Ride that has inspired this series of paintings by John Bartlett. Lasseter's adventures through outback Australia truly come to life through John's insightful use of colour and texture. This set of work captures the feel and essence out the outback where many AWU members spend their working lives. John himself is a well travelled fellow - he has been a practicing artist for thirty years and clearly his experience has shone through with this remarkable collection.

The Australian Workers' Union is extremely proud to sponsor this exhibition of truly remarkable works by John. We have a unique connection to this collection - firstly John inspiration for this work came from the legend of Lasster's Gold, a tale which has is steeped in the tradition of outback Australia and which is integrally linked to the history of my union - secondly we have since our inception in 1886 we have had a strong and steadfast commitment to building and developing our nation - that commitment at times has meant going one day longer to ensure generations of Australians have regular, safe and just employment and in this case today it means supporting and promoting Australian art which is integral to developing a sense of nationhood.