The Gift of a Gallery

Made in 1919, a gift of over 100 paintings and works on paper led to the establishment of Tamworth’s first public art gallery. Known collectively as the Salvana Collection these works were donated by Australian artist John Salvana (1873-1956). Principally a painter, Salvana was best known for his ‘bush scenes’ or impressionistic landscapes of rural […]

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The River People’s Lament

Artist and activist Badger Bates is a Barkandji elder from Wilcannia near the Barka (Darling) River in far western New South Wales. His people are river people and, as a result, much of his art focuses on the Barka and the people and animals that are dependent on its flow. Badger was born in 1947 […]

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The People’s Painter

Kevin Charles ‘Pro’ Hart (1928-2006) MBE was one of Australia’s best-known and most prolific artists, he was also one of the least accepted by a disapproving art world. Even though the criticism expressed by city-based art critics and galleries about his work was mixed most of it was negative. Counter to this, when the former […]

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