15 GRAND PAINTINGS VISUALLY DOCUMENTING AUSTRALIA’S HISTORY AWAIT A PERMANENT HOME

In 1979 Paul Galy began a very ambitious personal project. He was to paint a set of eleven large oil-paintings, each 1.25 by 2 metres in size, known as “The Australian Commemorative Series”. They would encompass Sydney’s development in 20 year leaps from 1788 to the present day, and beyond. The collection also represents a shift through a 24-hour time clock, progressing two hours with each painting. The style he uses for each painting changes through the collection capturing the style that was popular at the time. They would be extensively researched and carefully planned to be as realistic and historically accurate as possible. The project was to require countless hours of planning, research and development. It was to require the involvement of his entire family. It was to become his obsession, his pride, a culmination of all his knowledge and talent.

The project took the maximum of patience, discipline and time. As the pace towards Australia’s Bicentenary gained momentum and the amount of information collected by the Galy’s grew, they soon realised that what they were making had become not at all a personal project, but a tribute and gift to the country which had adopted them. Paul decided on a goal to complete the paintings for the 1988 Bicentenary. But the frantic pace of the project came to an abrupt halt in early 1987 due to a serious accident which incapacitated the artist.

However, his family continued the research, and his son, Gary, wrote the 200-year history of Australia which was to accompany the painting, and compiled the information which had been researched on their themes. Thus, this young man suddenly became transformed into a historian and author of Australia’s past. Born in 1968, Gary attended Sydney Grammar School, where he graduated in 1986, and is currently pursuing a career in Medicine.

The paintings were finally completed in 1989 – a complete visual and descriptive history of Sydney.

Now Paul would like to find a permanent home for them.

An unparalleled visual history to elevate your space.

Championing the beauty of Sydney.