Orange Regional Gallery

From The Orange Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search
Orange Regional Gallery

Orange Regional Galleryis co-located with the Orange City Library in a stand-alone, purpose built structure, the ORLAG Building, on the edge of the CBD. Designed by Colin Still, who was at that time the NSW Government Architect, the building was awarded the Sir John Sulman Medal for Architectural Merit in the same year. Still incorporated many features of this regional centre and its environment into his design, including the square grid layout, which is reflected in the exterior walls, and in the paving, which represents tractor tyre marks.

The construction of this building was controversial and divided the Council and the community. Council decided on October 7, 1982, that it would proceed with a $3.5 million library and art gallery complex for Civic Square, behind the Visitors Centre. Two aldermen, Dan Perry and Margaret Stevenson, were opposed to the proposal, suggesting that the city could not afford a new building and should add a storey to the existing library.

Debate continued and in July, 1983, Council again voted on the proposal, this time agreeing to go ahead with a 9-3 vote. Those to vote against it at this stage were Ald Stevenson, Ald Tim Sullivan and Ald Joyce Hawkes because of the cost to the ordinary ratepayer. Mayor Richard Niven said Orange was certain to receive funds of some sort for the project, a new library was a necessity and it had been Council policy for seven years to pursue the aim of a library-gallery with the aim of supporting State grants to support it.

Work on the complex began in late 1983 and was expected to be completed by November, 1984. However, there was a setback on August 7, 1985, when arsonists set fire to the almost completed complex. Fire raced through partitions and into the ceiling, causing estimated $1 million damage. The main damage was in the gallery section.

The blaze forced the postponement of the official opening by Premier Neville Wran the following month. The new library/gallery, built at a cost of $5.2 million, was officially opened by the Minister for Finance, Bob Debus, on Saturday, April 19, 1986 with hundreds of people braving cold weather for the ceremony in the northern forecourt. The library had already been open to the public since January.

The first exhibition at the Gallery was Two Centuries of Australian Painting and featured many leading works from the Art Gallery of NSW valued at millions of dollars, including Tom Roberts' The Golden Fleece. Gallery director Peter O'Neill said the exhibition was an example of the type and importance of collections that could now be attracted to Orange. The gallery provided three exhibition spaces with the Mary Turner Collection, which had been donated to the gallery by Mrs Turner, initially housed in Gallery 2. Gallery 3, upstairs, housed the permanent collection of ceramics, costumes and jewellery.

The nucleus of the collection began through an acquisitive award run in conjunction with the Orange Festival of Arts and small exhibitions were mounted in the foyer of the Orange Civic Theatre. However it was the donation of 34 Australian modernist works by Mary Turner to Orange City Council in 1982 that was the catalyst for the construction of the ORG. The Gallery’s collection now focuses on Australian contemporary paintings and prints building on the Mary Turner collection.


  • Balfour, T. 1986. 'Orange Regional Library and Art Gallery'. Constructional Review, 59(4): 10-19.
  • Brennan, B. 1987. Orange Blossoms. Vouge Living ,July: 68 – 69.
  • Notes for a history of Orange compiled by John Miller (1995-1997). Unpublished.
Personal tools