New England District

When we checked into the Armidale Pines yesterday, we placed our breakfast order as well. This turned out to be a smart move. Not only was the food tasty and plentiful — and delivered to our room — but we avoided having to go out in the rain to find a bakery or café.

We had two places we wanted to visit in Armidale before getting on the road.

One was the Saumarez Homestead, which was built between 1888-1906 on one of the first sheep stations in the area. As luck would have it, the place is closed temporarily … no explanation.

That left us with NERAM — the New England Regional Art Museum.

The museum is home to the Howard Hinton Collection … Australian artwork from the period between 1880 and 1940. Hinton, a British-born shipping merchant, had a great appreciation for art and artists … an appreciation that he generously shared with others rather than amass a treasure trove of art for himself.

The free exhibit at NERAM rotates art from the 1,000+ pieces that Hinton donated to the Armidale Teachers’ College.

After wandering through the current rotation from the Hinton Collection, we paid the admission to enter the exhibit in the adjacent room … works by the finalists of the 2023 Wynne Prize … the oldest prize given out since 1897 by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The goal of the prize is to raise “… questions about how human intervention is changing the natural world. …”Read more