The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 53 No 1 April 2014

---------------------------- ----,
Connections: Australia and As ia
Leaning Towards Asia
Janet De800s reflects on the changing nature of Australian/Asian connections
In October 2012, the Gillard Government released the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper'
in w hich the 'Executive Summary' stated that,
Asia s rise is changing the world. This is a definingfealllre of Ihe 2 J 51 century - the Asian century ...
Within only ale", y ears, Asia will not only be the worlds largest producer 0/ goods and services, it will also be the
world's largest consumer of them. 11 is already the most populous region in the world. I lT lhe Ill/ure, il will also be
home 10 the majority of the worlds middle cJl.Jss.
The Asian century is an Australian opportun i ~y. As the global cen/re of graVity shifts (a our reg ion, the tyranny of
dis tance is being rep/aced by the prospects afproximity.
Australia is located in the righl place of the right time - in the Asian region in the Asian century.]
This economic imperative is a far cry from the genteel and romantic leaning towards the Orient that
was present in Bernard Leach's philosophising and influential A Potter's Book'. Although Leach spent
most of his time in Japan, early on mixing with a privileged coterie of writers and artisVcraftsmen,
uncertain still what path to follow, he also travelled to China and worked for two years with Dr Alfred
Westharp - a man who was on a mission, ... " to 'save' China from the West's turmoil, ... " .'
It is ironic that back in the early 20th century it was Westharp's mission to "save China from the
West", w hilst today in the early 21 st century w e frequently encounter the reverse - a fear of the effed
on us of China (and other Asian countries) and a desire to minimise their role in our future. Coming to
"know thine enemy" is exemplified in one of our elder statesmen of ceramics, Peter Rushforth.
Rushforth, a prisoner of war of the Japanese in Burma and Changi, came to embrace Japanese culture
both during and post war, via reading the writings of Leach's friend, Dr Soetsu Yanagi, as well as Leach's
own A Potter's Book' Earlier, when studying pottery at Melbourne Tech nical College (now RMID, like
fellow Victorians Allan Lowe and Harold Hughan, Rushforth found inspiration in the Chinese pots in the
H. W. Kent Collection of Oriental Ceramics at the National Gallery of Vidoria. It was here that he started
a life-long relationsh ip w ith chun and celadon glazes that was to find expression as 'Australian ' through
Opposite page: Robin Best, The Pepper Pot - The Legacy of Coenraad Temminck, 2013
http://pandora.nla .gov_au/parv'133850/201309 1401221asiancentury.dpmc.gov.aulindex. html
20 12 Asia Century WhIte Paper pl
1940: A Potter's Book. london: Faber & Faber; New ed.; with introductions by Soyetsu Yanagl and Michael Cardew.
London : faber & Faber. 1976; ISBN 978''{)-571-10973-9
4 WNVV.vads.ac.uk/learning!learndex.php?themej d=CSCU7&theme_fe