Nolan: A Gift, A very special dinner hosted by Wangaratta Art Gallery
Published on 11 July 2025
The Wangaratta Art Gallery Friends will be hosting a very special fundraising event on Friday 1 August at 5pm in celebration of an historic gift to the Wangaratta Art Gallery Collection.
Representing the most significant donation in the history of Wangaratta Art Gallery, Sir Sidney Nolan’s Goldfields, 1945 was gifted to the Gallery by a private donor in April 2025. Never seen in Wangaratta, guests will begin the event with an exclusive behind the scenes tour to view this significant modernist painting in the Gallery’s collection store. Following the viewing guests will stroll down to The Railyard Wangaratta where they will be treated to a three-course meal with local wines.
Over dinner, Virginia Rigney - Senior Curator at Canberra Museum & Gallery and expert on Sidney Nolan – will share insights into his life and work. Her talk will focus especially on the iconic Ned Kelly series, which holds a deep connection to the Wangaratta region and the Goldfields painting.
All proceeds from the evening will go directly to Wangaratta Art Gallery Friends Inc., supporting the acquisition of new artworks for the Gallery’s collection. Thanks to the aspirations and fundraising efforts of the Gallery Friends, significant works like this Nolan have found a home in Wangaratta.
When: Friday 1 August 2025
Where: Wangaratta Art Gallery, 56 Ovens Street from 5pm + The Railyard Wangaratta, 60 Norton Street, from 5.30pm
Booking: $130 per person (includes a three-course meal, matching local wines, special guest speaker and Nolan preview)
All are welcome. The dinner is limited to 60 people and dietary requirements are catered for.
About the painting
Sir Sidney Nolan (1917 – 1992) was one of Australia’s most significant modernist artists, best known for his depictions of the history and mythology of bush life in Australia. His paintings, often rich in colour, striking in composition and deliberately awkward in technique, represent Australian stories of loss, failure, and capture, featuring figures such as the bushranging Kelly Gang, shipwreck victim Eliza Fraser and the explorers Burke and Wills. Nolan’s iconic paintings of the Kelly Gang contributed to the development of the image of Ned Kelly as a symbol for Australian history and identity.
The painting, while challenging in content, has high educational and cultural value. It is considered an early work in the Kelly Gang series, with significant geographic, social and historical connections to the broader Wangaratta region.
According to art historian Warwick Reeder the shape and formation of the mullock heaps pictured in Goldfields, 1945 are identical to other paintings picturing Stringybark Creek (now an historical reserve on the Tatong-Tolmie Road neighbouring Cheshunt) including Kelly, 1946 and Kelly at the mine, 1946.
Further evidence of the link of Goldfields, 1945, to the Kelly series is that Stringybark Creek was an abandoned mining site and the Kellys were taught mining techniques by Joseph Byrne, the third member of the Kelly gang.1
To book tickets, please visit: www.wangarattaartgallery.com.au
For further information, please contact the gallery on 03 5722 0865 or gallery@wangaratta.vic.gov.au