The ANU community recently celebrated a landmark gift of Indigenous art estimated to be worth more than $9 million from ANU alumnus, Canberra lawyer and philanthropist Craig Edwards.
"By giving this gift to ANU and the Drill Hall Gallery, I'm really giving this gift to Canberra."
Guests at the Drill Hall Gallery Reception were treated to a first viewing of a selection from the remarkable collection of 124 Western Desert art paintings.
The donation from Mr Edwards includes works by influential Indigenous artists, including Nyurapayia Nampitjinpa (aka Mrs Bennett), Yannima Pikarli, Tommy Watson, Naata Nungurrayi, Tjawina Porter Nampitjinpa, George Tjungurrayi and Queenie McKenzie.
Mr Edwards said that he was inspired to make the donation due to his strong and long connection to the Drill Hall Gallery and ANU.
"The Drill Hall Gallery is open to the general public and that was a really important factor for me, but also I want the collection to be a resource for students who may be doing research into related topics,” he said.
“By giving this gift to ANU and the Drill Hall Gallery, I'm really giving this gift to Canberra."
ANU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian Schmidt, said the University was thrilled to receive such a significant gift.
"This is an inspirational act of philanthropy on the part of Craig Edwards, and we are delighted that he has chosen ANU to be the custodians of this extraordinary collection," he said.