In 1943, William Dobell won the Archibald Prize for the best portrait of friend and fellow artist, Joshua Smith. After Dobell won, he was taken to court, claiming that the painting was a caricature rather than a portrait. The subsequent court case profoundly affected both men for the rest of their lives.  

Today, with the benefit of the internet and breakthroughs in science and technology, we have much greater access to tools and information with which to discover and analyse the past, helping us to constantly question our interpretation of events and re-examine our viewpoints. 

Years ago as a young publisher I had the privilege of creating and managing a long list of illustrated reference books by Australian experts in their field. They were expensive to produce and without the aid of funding grants or generous benefactors, many would have struggled to see the light of day.

‘Don’t forget to read the fine print’ my grandfather would say every time I was contemplating making an important purchase.

As we all know, fine print is the long and convoluted wording in six-point type featured at the bottom of any receipt, and invariably requires a magnifying glass to read.