A GROSS NATIONAL INJUSTICE

It was a great honour for a leading Northern Territory Aboriginal art dealer , Ms Shirley Collins , when she was asked to take part in the 1999 -2000 Bank of America Down Under Tour of the United States in an inflatable replica of the Sydney Opera House . Instead, it led to her financial ruin, a decade of stress , costly , inconclusive legal battles and poor health. An expert attested that Collins became “the scapegoat for a litany of bureaucratic failures” in both countries in a major event designed to promote Australia.


In what amounts to a last desperate bid to receive a modicum of justice , Ms Collins is seeking an act of grace payment from the federal government .

The sorry saga , neglected by the local and national media, goes back to April 1999. It was then that the Australia Council, offering a $20,000 seed grant , initially invited Collins to be one of 15 ambassadors for Australia in the Australian Tourist Commission /Bank of America Down Under Tour Roadshow . This was to be an extensive 12 month tour of America in the blow up Sydney Opera House as part of the build up to the Sydney Olympic Games.

Publicity put out by the Bank of America for the Down Under Tour said Americans would be able to experience Australia through displays from all states and territories, Aboriginal art and dancers and make an outback airline flight in a simulator . There would be a five storey Olympic flame tower in an exhibition space half the size of a football field . The bank also announced it would use the event as a fund raiser for the US Olympic Commission .

Collins, widely acknowledged as one of Australia’s leading promoters of Aboriginal art and craft , had a successful track record . In 1983 she had organised an Aboriginal art and craft display at Newport , Rhode Island, as part of the America’s Cup celebrations. In addition, she had arranged installations at the Caz Gallery ,Los Angeles, the Australia Gallery in New York, the Bond Fine Art Gallery, London , and in Japan had been involved with Professor Shozo Koyama’s Gallery, Osaka, and the Kobe Museum . In addition, she curated the l997 inaugural exhibition at the opening of the National Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Sydney

At the time of the invite to the American tour , Ms Collins owned Darwin’s successful Raintree Aboriginal Art Gallery and was the chairperson of the Jarraman Arts Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned gallery designed to foster development and preservation of art, culture, tradition, mythology and craft.

A grant was sought from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) . Before any commitment , ATSIC engaged international marketing consultants , Deloitte , Touche Tomatsu , Brisbane , to produce a feasibility report , which it did, collaborating with Auslink (Marketing ) , Darwin .

Meetings took place in Darwin with Mr John Dwyer (ATSIC) , Mr Bob Tormey Auslink ( Marketing ) and Alan James , manager of the internationally renowned Yothu Yindi band , its merchandise to be to be sold along with the art and craft. Auslink and Deloitte both gave an enthusiastic thumbs up for the tour.

A financial model was prepared on projections of $1.4million sales revenue(worst case scenario) for the tour. On a margin of 50 percent it was expected the communities would sell about $700,000 of stock, about $70,000 each. First cut projections indicated a gross profit of $500,000. In addition , there would be a great boost for the NT and increased art and craft output on Aboriginal communities .( These figures would later be described in court by an expert witness as over blown and , in some respects , based on erroneous and incorrect assumptions.)

On the strength of the favourable report , ATSIC , rejecting a call for a grant, said it would make a loan of $160,000, $100,000 of which would be secured as a mortgage on Collins’s house. At the time Collins already had mortgages over Raintree Gallery and her home totalling $160,000.


While the feasibility report and other details were being worked out ,Collins was involved in hectic activity preparing for the major event . With time running out and so much time and effort having been put into organizing the stock from far flung communities , Ms Collins had no alternative to the ATSIC loan . ( The circumstances and alleged illegalities connected with this mortgage and subsequent actions of ATSIC would become part of the legal wrangle.)

NT Aboriginal organizations which agreed to provide works for the tour were Yothu Yindi , Buku Larrngay, Bula Bula Arts, Tiwi Islands Arts , Maruku Arts ,
Urapuntja Arts and Papunya Tula . Other communities -Utopia,Yuendumu,Arurlangu Art,Injalak and Maningrida –were also approached but their stocks were too low at the time.

A bill of sale was obtained for the stock to be taken to America which would be sold along the way . From the loan and the cash flow Collins would pay suppliers, overheads including accommodation, wages , vehicle hire and make instalments on the ATSIC loan. It was anticipated that the tour would result in a big demand for refresher stock as the tour progressed across America. The NT Chamber of Commerce and Industry congratulated Ms Collins for her looming participation in the forthcoming major Down Under Tour.

Special uniforms with Aboriginal designs were made to wear in America.
Near the end of August 1999, Collins, her son ,Lloyd , Larrakia digeridoo player Daniel Lee and consultant Paul Kaethner set out on what was hailed as a major boost for Aboriginal art and craft in America. Meeting all the requirements for the loan, stock purchase contracts and other needs meant that the Territory party did not join the travelling Opera House show until three weeks after it started, in part due to uncertainty caused by a menacing hurricane, on the tour of 47 cities .

Their late arrival and the failure by Australian representatives in the US and Australia to realize that the Bank of America was going to solely use the event to raise money for the US Olympic team meant Collins faced an impossible situation almost from the moment of arrival in America.


Despite all the high powered backing and the rosy projections of financial success , it soon became apparent that there were fatal flaws in the tour which should have been picked up by highly- paid experts . After all , this was a major promotion of Australia in America with the powerful Bank of America.


In a nightmarish situation, Collins found herself faced with ever growing problems, uncooperative, obstructive Bank of America staff, a key Australian Tourist Commission official who could not be contacted and other stressful matters. For nearly two days they had to stand in line to secure green cards authorizing them to work in America. Then they were informed of a mountain of approvals and authorizations they needed to sell in America, there also being a plethora of state tax requirements with which they would have to comply.

A convoy of large trucks , decorated by John Moriarty ( who did the Qantas Aboriginal motifs ) covered in Aboriginal designs from the Borroloola region, Collins’s country , proclaimed the Bank of America Down Under Olympic Games Tour . Collins hired a car and a trailer to transport her party and stock . Two tonne of stock arrived at Kennedy Airport but it was held up because a transport company described the goods on the manifest as spears and fighting clubs. The containers ended up stranded at Kennedy Airport for five months before being shipped back to Darwin.

The very first event Jarrraman participated in on the tour , run over three days , appeared to be mainly organized for Bank of America officials and their guests in North Carolina Each of the l5 ambassadors had a “ pod ” inside the mock Opera House. The Tjapukai Dancers from North Queensland were present and added to the Aboriginal content.

However , the pod from which Collins operated had no counter on which to transact sales, no eftpos , no cash register , no wrapping facilities . While people were interested in the Aboriginal art and craft, many seemed to think it was an exhibition where brochures and pamphlets were handed out , but nothing sold, despite the fact that all the items in the Jarraman section carried price tags. Despite these problem, Collins felt the tour would be successful once the difficulties were overcome because of the large number of people who attended the function .

Collins approached Bank of America officials who did not seem helpful. She explained to them that she was there to sell Aboriginal art and craft from which proceeds she had to pay for the extensive tour. After North Carolina the convoy headed for Baltimore but officials did not notify Collins and her group that they were leaving. As a result, coming to breakfast at the hotel , she and her party suddenly discovered the entire road show had long gone . They were left to find their own way , a seven hour journey which became 11 hours because they did not know the way and had no convoy to follow. Bank of America officials reportedly told Collins and her party, : " We forgot about you Aboriginals."

In Baltimore , Collins set up a card table from which to do business in the pod but to carry out any transaction she had to push through the crowd to a place called “ the outpost” where there was an efpost facility, then fight her way back to the pod with the customer and item .

Larger, more expensive items could not be hauled through jossling crowds.
Then Collins heard a woman shout,” That Aboriginal pod over there , what do you think you are doing ?” It was a Bank of America official who declared she would not have any “hawking ” carried out at “ my festival.” Collins explained the situation , but the aggressive woman almost tipped over the card table and repeated there would be no “ hawking ”.

Furthermore, she demanded the prices be removed from the stock.
Stunned at this outburst , Collins several times phoned and emailed the key Australian Tourist Commission contact in the US, Bob Monfrini but he was never available. She called ATSIC back in Darwin and others who had been involved in preparing what was supposed to be a highly successful tour which had turned into a nightmare. Feeling ostracized by the Americans , unable to contact the ATC chief and sensing her fellow Australian ambassadors , for some unknown reason , did not want to get involved, she was worn out and stressed . With funds running out , Collins attempted to sell stock to local art galleries in Baltimore , without success.

She openly admitted to “ running about like a chook with its head cut off ”trying to raise money and keep the show on the road Another location for the travelling Opera House was in a national park in Washington DC where, she was informed , local laws prevented anything being sold for profit.

Everything came crashing down through no fault of Ms Collins . They decided to bail out after only three weeks. Even at this late stage , how the Bank of America, Tourism Australia and others in diplomatic posts allowed this situation to develop demands an explanation.

The depressed party returned the hire car and trailer to Raleigh ; then, after all bunking down in one room , eating as cheaply as possible, they made their way to Los Angeles airport and used their return tickets to fly back the long way to Darwin , an exhausting 42 hour journey .

Bob Monfrini ,of the Australian Tourism Commission ,Los Angeles , called in a member of the Australian Indigenous Art Trade Association , Maryanne Hollow , in the hope she might be able to help the organisers of the tour following the departure of Collins. After inspecting the travelling show in America, Hollow , in a document prepared for the Federal Court in Darwin , Adrian Newstead of Coo-ee Gallery , Sydney , was quoted as saying “the ATC staff were completely out of their depth and the entire road show brought little credit on Australia.”

There was no triumphant welcome home mat for Collins in Darwin . In the tragic wash up, ATSIC, acting on advice from the Australian Government Solicitor in Darwin, seized the stock returned from America and invited suppliers to retrieve their goods, most of which did .

The fact that Jarraman Corporation had a bill of sale over the goods , Collins felt she could sell the art works and pay off all or most of her debts. The stock was offered to organisers of the Aboriginal art exhibition at the Sydney Olympics, but they did not take up the offer. A welter of lawsuits resulted, claims and counter claims - ATSIC, Auslink, Deloitte , several Aboriginal art organisations ,Tourism Australia.

The seizure of that stock became a major legal issue . Collins ended up losing her home, her Raintree Gallery folded , and she was forced to sell other assets Her standing and reputation in the trade and with Aboriginal communities suffered as a result of the fiasco. Today she has outstanding legal debts of at least $300,000.


In legal actions which followed , the Australian Tourism Commission admitted liability of up to $100,000, but this fact was not revealed until years later through freedom of information . ATSIC steadfastly disavowed any liability, demanded return of the loan and repeatedly stonewalled when it came to handing over documents under freedom of information .

On several occasions the claim has been made in official documents that the affair could have been resolved early in the piece and for far less money but for the hardline attitude taken against Collins by ATSIC and its successor, Indigenous Business Australia .

In her battle for justice, Collins contacted scores of people in high office from Prime Minister Howard down , including the ATSIC head , Geoff Clark, his deputy, Sugar Ray Robinson , and the late Charles Perkins ,the latter reportedly stating that the ATSIC claim against her should be dropped.


Ms Collins, a daughter of a stolen generation woman , is a 70 year old pensioner , suffers from diabetes and lives in a small rented unit in Darwin

In the early 1950s she worked as a bookbinder in the old “ tin bank ” office of the Northern Territory News at the time of the crusading editor, Jim Bowditch . If Bowditch were alive today and running the News he would be giving this issue a major run .

( Part 11 of this case will be posted at a later date , further revealing the shabby treatment Ms Collins has experienced , weak politicians who seem unable to frame a question and further evidence that Collins was the scapegoat for a massive bungle. )