Premier Hon Peter Beattie will next week (Aug 31, 1pm) launch the CQU Press book 'Showing Off: Queensland at World Exhibitions 1862 to 1988'.

The launch of the book, by Judith McKay, will take place at Parliament House.

The new book is jointly published by CQU Press and the Queensland Museum and will sell for $29.95.

According to CQU Press Director Professor David Myers: "Many of us have happy memories of Brisbane’s World Expo 88, but how many know of its nineteenth-century predecessor, the Queensland International Exhibition of 1897; or that, between 1862 and 1988, Queensland took part in 23 world expositions?".

"The book 'Showing Off' takes us on a tour of these celebratory events, which show the best that Queensland could offer the world over more than a century.

"It traces the evolution of the State from a British colony fiercely competing for the mother country's attention and support, to an Australian State increasingly focused on the Asia-Pacific region, and still competitive," Professor Myers said.

Dr McKay, a curator at the Queensland Museum at South Bank, undertook much of the research for the book with support from the Queensland Government through the Queensland – Smithsonian Fellowship Program. Dr McKay’s Fellowship, awarded in 2001, enabled her to travel to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC where she had access to a rich source of archival material.

The book is lavishly illustrated and shows how Queensland changed from a resource-rich frontier colony touting for settlers and capital to a sophisticated State determined to develop its vast potential.

The exhibits are never dull and include such intriguing images as an axe head floating in a mercury fountain, Queen Victoria clapping her hands to her ears and fleeing from a Queensland exhibit, the mysterious disappearance of 57 bottles of Queensland wine en route to London, a cheese that weighed 1= tons, and the world’s biggest coral garden.

For more information, phone Professor Myers on 5552 4960.