"During the period 1969 to 1979 I was an Alderman on Wollongong City Council and in 1974 also Chairman of the Council Finance Committee.
I had been interested in art, especially
paintings, since my schooldays and the opportunity was then available to do
something really constructive and worthwhile by establishing an Art Gallery in
Wollongong. There was no Art Gallery in the City or the Region and it was firmly
on my priority list as a prime objective after being elected to Council.
Wollongong had the perception of being an
industrial city, with the steelworks and its smokestacks as a backdrop, the
coalmines and strong Union reputation.
To my mind that did not mean that the
community and particularly the children did not deserve to have access to a
cultural facility such as an Art Gallery and be encouraged to become involved
in art and music.
Many of the migrants who settled in the
Illawarra from a broad spread of other countries had a strong interest in art
and music and their talents were becoming more and more evident locally.
A strong supporter of the Gallery was John
Richardson the active and energetic Editor of the influential Illawarra
Mercury. I had established a strong friendship and respect for John and we
talked together often. He was determined to put the resources of the paper
behind supporting a vision and future for the City. He was as committed as I
was to support the establishment of an Art Gallery.
The first step of course was to raise the
necessary not-insignificant funding, not only to acquire a Gallery site and
building, but also to make sure that there was adequate Federal, State and
local support for the on-going running costs, including acquisitions.
A small informal steering committee was
formed consisting of myself as Chairman, John
Richardson, Max Syer, the General Manager of the Illawarra County
Council, Coralie Barr, an artist in her own right and a very efficient
Secretary to the committee, and Nadia Crittenden, an experienced journalist
with the Mercury.
The Committee decided to inaugurate
fund-raising by preparing and contacting a list of prospective donors
particularly from the large commercial industries in the area to first gauge
the extent of interest
The Art Collection in 1974 was minimal,
mainly comprising local works, although there were some good paintings from the
Annual Art Prize. There was nothing however which could be said to be an icon.
All of this changed in 1975. I happened to
be at a Public Meeting at the (old) Town Hall when I met up with Father Michael
Bach, the Administrator of St. Francis Xavier’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, and a person for
whom I, and others in the City across the board, had a great deal of respect.
He said that he wanted to introduce me to a gentleman who wished to donate some
paintings to the City. I had been approached by people previously on this sort
of basis and generally the paintings had been either by themselves or of doubtful
quality. I was then introduced by Father Bach to Bob Sredersas, a lovely, very
modest gentleman, who explained that he lived on his own at Cringila, right
next to the Steelworks, and he had collected some paintings which he wanted to
donate to the “children of Wollongong”. Bob always spoke so quietly in his
broken english that one had to listen very closely. His house was not suitable
to preserve paintings properly and he was worried about having them stolen – in
fact his house had already been broken into and some pieces taken.
I was very interested in what he said, his general description of the paintings, so was anxious to follow up as soon as possible. It was arranged that I would go round to the Cathedral Presbytery the following day where the paintings were stored to have a look at them. Father Bach with Mr. Sredersas took me upstairs to a storeroom which turned out to be a veritable treasure chest.
There was a large collection of paintings by most prized Australian artists – Lindsay, Cossington-Smith, Buckmaster, Heysen, Fullwood, Ashton and the list went on. A wonderful collection which would propel Wollongong into the position of having one of the best Regional Galleries in Australia.
Bob very quietly, in his usual very modest way, told Fr. Bach and myself how he came to acquire the paintings and what he wanted to do with them.
He told us that he had arrived in Australia from Northern Europe. He was very reticent about his upbringing but Lithuania did get a mention. He was single, worked as a crane-driver at the Steelworks, just down the road from his house at Cringila, wasn’t interested in sport, horse-racing, or going down to the pub, and his life-style requirements were simple. He spent very little on himself.
Some years before he had acquired an Encyclopaedia of Australian painters.
He was so interested in what he read that
he decided as his hobby to go up on the train to Sydney during his time off, to
the auctions at Sothebys and Lawsons and check out any paintings coming up for
sale. He personally had no knowledge of
Australian painters except from what he read in his book.
What he did do after finding out how the
painting auction system worked was to bid for any paintings reasonable priced
where the painter involved was mentioned in his book.
He said that he didn’t need to know
anything himself about the quality or the subject-matter of the painters or
paintings provided that they were listed creditably in the Encyclopaedia.
And so his collection started.
At that time during the 1950s and 1960s
Australian painters were not highly regarded and most paintings in that
category could be obtained for very few pounds.
Bob
wanted to show his gratitude to Wollongong for giving him a home, by donating
his collection to the City to be available to be seen by the children. He knew
that he was getting older and he wanted to make sure that the gift was in the
care of the City before he died.
He also wanted to be sure that they, or at
least a rotating selection of them, would be put on permanent display so that
the children of his adopted City would be able to see them whenever the Gallery
was open.
His collection and magnificent donation –
worth a very substantial amount of money indeed – was the catalyst on which the
Art Gallery and its collection were built.
With his consent the fund-raising Committee
was able to publicise the donation and use it as a platform to launch a much
larger fund-raising project.
The Mercury gave Bob Sredersas and the
collection a tremendous amount of publicity in support of the Gallery project.
Publicity was not limited to local cover -
the national media was equally interested in the quality of the paintings and
the modest and shy migrant donor.
I remember that the Woman’s Weekly gave the event front cover.
The fund-raising committee was given a
tremendous boost by the donation and the list of contributors began to grow.
Wollongong City Council was prepared to
throw its support behind the Project and on March 1st. 1977 City
Council approved calling tenders for the establishment of the City Art Gallery
in the old Paddy’s Market Building standing on the corner of Keira and Burelli
Streets. The building was owned by the Illawarra County Council which was
prepared to negotiate with Wollongong city Council to transfer ownership.
The story was not quite finished with the
Council resolution.
I was told one day that the County Council
had decided to sell the Keira Street property to the City Council for about
$200 thousand. I immediately rang Max Syer, the County Council Manager, and a
strong supporter of the Art Gallery project and arranged to go over
straightaway to talk with him and Ald Tobin the Chairman. Ald. Tobin confirmed
the proposed sale. I said “Rubbish, they (the County Council) will give it to
us. He said that County Council could not do that under the relevant Act of
Parliament as the County Council was a commercial entity and must deal
commercially.
I said “We will get the Act changed”.
I rang the Premier’s Department and
arranged to send a letter from Wollongong city Council setting out the facts
and requesting a meeting with the Premier. I was well aware that the Premier
was a strong supporter of Galleries, and it must be said, aware that at that
time Wollongong did not have a great deal in the way of cultural outlets.
A meeting was arranged quite quickly with
Premier Wran – within three weeks - and I drove up to his office in Macquarie
Street in company with the Town Clerk.
When we walked into his office, he said
immediately “I am aware of why you are here. I am in agreement with what you
are proposing. The Government will change the Act to allow the donation of the
property to proceed. In addition we will donate $50 thousand to the
Fund-raising Appeal plus there will be another $50 thousand if you can match it
dollar for dollar.
Not too long after that the funds had been
raised, stimulated by Bob’s unexpected magnificent gift, and work started on
the Paddy’s Market Building to renovate and equip it as Wollongong’s first Art
Gallery.
In order to acknowledge the substantial
moneys donated by local companies and private citizens a plaque with a list of
names was placed near the door of the new Gallery. It was moved to the old
Council Chambers to where the Gallery was transferred after Council built its
new office block. Unfortunately the plaque, an important part of Wollongong’s
history and self-help progress, appears to have been taken down and now cannot
be located.
A room in the newer Gallery was named the
Sredersas Room to commemorate Bob’s name where his paintings were intended to
be put on permanent display as he had asked “for the children of the City”.
And so the Art Gallery came into being, in
large part thanks to Bob Sredersas, a modest new-comer to the City from the far
side of the world, thankful for how he had been welcomed in his new country and
who wanted, in his own special way, to express his appreciation."
Harold Hanson AM
