37°33′38″S 143°51′30″E / 37.5605°S 143.8583°E
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Established | 1884 |
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Location | 40 Lydiard Street North. Ballarat, Australia |
Type | Art gallery |
Website | artgalleryofballarat.com.au |
The Art Gallery of Ballarat is the oldest regional art gallery in Australia. It was established in 1884 as the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery by a company of interested citizens led by James Oddie. It initially rented out the first floor of the Ballarat Academy of Music; the current building on Lydiard Street North opened in 1890. The gallery was privately owned until financial insecurity led to the building and collection being handed over to the Ballarat City Council in 1977. In 2008, the gallery adopted its current name and became a free-entry venue. Louise Tegart is the gallery's current director.
The Art Gallery of Ballarat is a tourist attraction for Ballarat. Listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, its two-storey building is one of the city's most historically significant. The collection is composed of over 11,200 works from the eighteenth century to the present day. The gallery holds temporary exhibitions in addition to its main display rooms on the upper floor. Although the Eureka Flag has been part of the collection since 1895, it is currently on long-term loan to the Eureka Centre.