Winton Shire Collection Winton Shire Collection

The Winton Shire Collection originally evolved from artworks gifted or commissioned by the Council, and continued to grow with the implementation of two competitions. Acquisitions were made of winning art works from these two council initiatives, an annual art competition and exhibition, what is now known as, the Woollam Waltzing Matilda Art Show (est.1996) and BHP Billiton Cannington Waltzing Matilda Photographic competition and exhibition(est. 1997).

The gallery no longer acquires works for the collection through acquisition of winning works by artists in exhibitions. The Winton Shire Collection continues to expand through the recommendations by a gallery acquisition sub-committee, funded by an annual Winton Shire Council acquisition budget. The Collection presently has 75 works.

The central focus of the Winton Shire Collection is the theme, “Outback”. The Collection considers outback – cultural traditions as a means of reflecting the community identity.


The future direction of the Winton Shire Collection is to refine the Collection focus by addressing the national theme of Waltzing Matilda, and expanding its regional People and Place sub- theme. This has been recently undertaken, with the purchase of eleven photographs by regional artists, made possible from the acquisition fund.

Another objective currently being addressed is to increase the profile of the Winton Shire Collection by regularly exhibiting collection works to the public and local community.