Chance

Ben Lee gets a chance to break into the music industry

... real danger is about putting yourself on the line emotionally. It's about going somewhere you've never been before; it's about trying to say something in a new way, and for me, there's more risk in that than getting into half a dozen bar room brawls. Everything good comes out of risk. But at least you know your limits.

Ben Lee, 2005

Australian musician Ben Lee received his 'big break' when he was 14. After seeing Nirvana play in Sydney he started a band, Noise Addict, with three mates.

They made demo tapes on their four-track recorder at home and sent them to radio stations and record labels. Ben recalls: 'We got some letters back: everyone hated it. I remember Triple J sent us a letter saying: "I think your tape sucks."'

Waterfront Records was the only company to have a positive response, and Ben invited them to the band's first gig: the Waverley Library sausage sizzle. Steve from Waterfront and Steven Pavlovic, the promoter, went to the show, and said, 'You guys were great. Do you want to support Sonic Youth?' This was Ben Lee's lucky break.

This story focuses on the teenage dream of being discovered actually coming true. It highlights the fact that Ben and the band took a risk which paid off. It is about making your own chances for things to happen, and grabbing the opportunity when it comes your way. The object on display is Ben's first guitar which he purchased himself and on which he created his early songs.

Steven Bradbury gets Olympic gold by chance

This is my fourth Olympics and I've walked away unhappy from the previous three, and that's definitely not the case this time. If I can have a bit of luck, I'm gonna ride it.

Steven Bradbury, 2002

Steven Bradbury was the first Australian to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Bradbury won gold in the men's 1000m short track speed skating event at the Salt Lake City games in 2002. Bradbury won when all the other competitors in the race fell after the leading skaters collided. He had been coming last at the time.

Bradbury said of his win: 'You know that's the nature of the sport in short track, you take your highs and your lows.'

In the Eternity gallery you can see Steven's skating suit and record your own story of chance.

Jenny Kee and the chance of a train crash

I was in the Granville Train Crash with my daughter ... you know people can see things as a positive or negative but for me the Granville Train Crash was a huge turning point ... I survived and started painting it – that's when I started painting.

Jenny Kee

Jenny was born in Bondi in 1947 to parents of Cantonese, Italian and British heritage. Jenny studied design in Sydney and later formed a dynamic and innovative partnership with fashion and textile designer Linda Jackson. The pair made exciting use of Australian flora and fauna in their characteristically colourful designs.

Jenny's paintings of opals, tropical fish, parrots, flowers and animals were printed onto exotic silks and exhibited in Australia and abroad. Her fabrics and designs are now part of the history of Australian fashion design.

Jenny's Eternity story centres on her chance survival in one of Australia's worst train disasters, the Granville Train Crash in 1977.

Visitors can see a doll decorated by Jenny in 1973. She describes the doll, a caricature of herself, as: 'a totem, symbolising my transformation into an artist'.

Hear Jenny speak about life, love and loss at our audio on demand service.

Janet Templeton and the chance of bankruptcy

1784-1857

Janet Templeton migrated to Australia from Scotland as a middle-aged woman with her extended family and nine children after her wealthy husband died in 1829. She brought with her a flock of fine wool Saxon Merinos, chosen and acquired in Germany by her sister-in-law, Eliza Forlong (later Forlonge), in order to establish herself and her sons as sheep-breeders in the new colony of New South Wales.

After roughly ten years of success, during which time she and her sons owned three properties, Janet was declared insolvent during the drought and depression of the 1840s. She lost all her property except, it is said, the pearls she brought with her from Scotland.

Harold Wright takes his chances on the road

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, I could have been born a tinker, who knows? The terrible depression of 1932 decided my future. I left Victoria on foot, seeking work. Tramping the roads, I was happy to accept any employment. I was carpenter, painter, bricklayer, miller, salesman, in fact, any type of work I could find.
Harold Wright c. 1957

The Great Depression caused Harold Wright to 'take his chances' on the road. He travelled extensively up to North Queensland and back to Sydney.

In 1935, I built my first horse wagon, with my tool grinding equipment on one side. You might say I started with my nose to the grindstone. It has been there ever since.
Harold Wright, c. 1957

Wright advertised that he was the 'saw doctor' or 'sharpening king'. He loved being his own boss and travelling from town to town looking for work. One of Wright's advertising signs that he made himself, in the shape of a saw, is on display.

Stories no longer on display

William Buckley

'You've got Buckley's chance' convict who escaped from Geelong Gaol (1830s-50s)

Fiona Coote

Youngest Australian heart transplant survivor and the chance of a new life (1980s)

Albert Facey

Received a letter from a girl he didn't know while at Gallipoli and later met and married her (1914-1976)

Howard Florey

The discovery of penicillin owed a lot to chance (1940s)

Yoshinori Maeda

Diving for pearls off Broome in the 1950s and the chance of finding a natural, perfect pearl (1950s)

Bernard O'Reilly

Chance of finding survivors of the Stinson plane crash (1937)

John Ross

The chance of being on holidays from the navy when your ship (HMAS Sydney) is blown up with no survivors (Second World War)

Kali Wilde

The chance of being a thalidomide-affected child led Kali to establish a network for sufferers (1970s-today)