It was a night of remembering the past and celebrating the present.  The BJP Official Opening of the exhibition of Lyndal Irons physie photos in the State Library of NSW Galleries was a night we’ll never forget. The evening was attended by 70 Associates as well as the photographer Lyndal’s family and friends.

Photographs by kind permission of Derby Chang.

She said, “When I first saw how the exhibit was being presented I was overwhelmed and the Opening was incredible! I had such a good time and I am so appreciative that BJP invested the time and money into creating an event to celebrate this exhibition.”  With over 40 photographs selected by the Curator and a 12 minute multimedia installation, there was plenty to view.  And the wall-sized enlargements of Sam Hood’s 1930s photographs of physical culture girls were visually stunning and a wonderful link to BJP’s history in Australia.

Also stunning were the performances by our three recent Senior Grand Champions, Brooke Davey, Phoebe Collins and Shannon Reinhard, who represented the choreographic journey of physie through the decades.  The speeches told the story of the exhibition’s journey from a simple idea 4 years ago of photographing some physie girls to a contemporary and historical representation of physical culture in one of Australia’s most prestigious institutions. 

This exhibition is an incredible opportunity for Physie people from everywhere to come and see their beloved sport on display and “up in lights” for the general public to marvel at.  It’s wonderful to see our sport and its history being shown such respect by the media and also to see physie becoming more and more popular.

Looking back at our history is a great thing to do… it makes us see how far we’ve come and then look ahead to the future with great excitement!