Ngununggula, the Southern Highlands’ First Regional Art Gallery, Has Opened in a Former Bowral Dairy
Words by Ariela Bard · Updated on 18 Nov 2021 · Published on 11 Nov 2021
“Every community needs a gallery,” says Ben Quilty. “In a perfect world, there should be a fish’n’chips shop, a bakery and a gallery on every corner.”
The artist is on the phone with Broadsheet from his studio in the Southern Highlands, where he and his team have just opened Ngununggula, the area’s first regional art gallery. It’s been 32 years since locals first started calling out for their own gallery, and five years since Quilty personally started work on the project. And he really needs a nap.
“I’m not doing it again!” he says when I ask him if getting the world-class gallery off the ground has been a challenging process. “But once I started there was no stopping. Weirdly, there were a lot of people who were against the idea. And I’m programmed to prove those kinds of people wrong.”
The past five years have been filled with fundraising, favours and, occasionally, fights as Quilty took on the task of turning an old dairy into a state-of-the-art gallery.
The gallery, named Ngununggula (pronounced “Nuhn-uhn-goola”), means “belonging” in the language of the local Gundungurra people. The name was gifted by local elder Aunty Velma Mulcahy.
“I was introduced to Aunty Velma early on,” Quilty says. “She is the most fabulous 86-year-old woman. She was the wicketkeeper for one of the first Indigenous Australian women’s cricket teams. She has guided us, corrected me and taught me, and she gave us our name. I loved it as soon as I heard it.”
The gallery opened in October and Quilty hopes it will “change the Southern Highlands for the better”.
Megan Monte, the gallery’s director, says building a facility to serve young people was a priority of the project.
“There are over 42 schools in the region that haven’t previously had a gallery to this scale or ambition in their local government area,” she says. “Our education program is just as important as our visual art program.”
Ngununggula will offer an Aboriginal art program, an education program with dedicated indoor and outdoor facilities, a resource library, and a public program for emerging and established artists.
Quilty’s childhood growing up in Sydney’s far north-west fuelled his ambition for the project.
“My parents took me to galleries and theatre and showed me great films, but my mates and neighbours – none of them had that experience. That was what drove me in the beginning. I wanted my own children’s friends to be exposed to the things that I missed out on where I grew up.”
The property had previously been owned by James Fairfax, who gifted it to the National Trust in 2016. Architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer took on the task of “transforming what was essentially a cow shed into a state-of-the art gallery”, Monte tells Broadsheet. “The original architecture fittings and fixtures are all still there, and a gallery space has been placed within it. It’s basically a box within a heritage building.”
The lighting, climate control and finish on the walls are “among the best in the world”, Quilty says. “Some things were non-negotiable.”
The result is four world-class gallery spaces, including an entry pavilion which will house a new commission by an Aboriginal artist each year. Lockdown delayed the construction of Hearth, the gallery cafe that is set to open in mid-November. The farm-to-table eatery will be led by chef Sabine Spindler (Cornersmith), in partnership with Southern Highlands favourite Moonacres Kitchen, and highlight local produce.
The inaugural exhibition is High Jinks in the Hydrangeas , a series of newly commissioned photographs and sculptural installations by acclaimed Australian artist Tamara Dean.
“This show is by far her most personal,” Quilty says. “It was made here, in gardens in the Southern Highlands. She uses the garden as a set to very bravely put her own psychology in front of you, to describe and exhibit her own anxieties about the world and her place in it.”
A large-scale installation by Quandamooka artist Megan Cope is the inaugural commission in the entry pavilion. The work, which will be on display for 12 months, was made in collaboration with Aunty Velma Mulcahy and the Southern Highlands Aboriginal community.
“It’s a huge honour to have her work here,” Quilty says. “Megan works with the local Indigenous communities all around the country and literally remaps the place. She is actually mapping with the descendants of this land and recording the true history of the place.”
Ngununggula
1 Art Gallery Lane, Bowral
0475 749 531
Hours:
Daily 10am–4pm
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