Down Under Discourse

I would like to comment on a remark made in the Jan. 19 article “Authentic Aussie Items in Sydney,” concerning the Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery in the Rocks. Perhaps the large number of international tourists that visit the Rocks in Sydney has made some of that area’s shopkeepers a little less patient with visitors’ requests for information.

I had a very different experience in 1990 when I visited the original Coo-ee Aboriginal Art shop and gallery (two separate establishments a block apart) in an interesting section of Sydney called Paddington, where many used book and antique shops are located. I talked to the director, Joe Croft, a former senior member of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and an accomplished boomerang maker and bird sculptor, and to the curator of the gallery. All my questions were answered and I was given recommendations relating to books on the subject of aboriginal Australian art, which were also for sale in both the gallery and the shop. For me it was a fascinating hour well-spent. This Coo-ee Aboriginal Art gallery is located at 202 Oxford St., Paddington, N.S.W. 2021.

SUSAN SHIELDS

Santa Barbara