From the Yarra Valley to Bendigo Victoria’s Regional Galleries

Detailed Itinerary

Included meals are shown with the symbols B, L and D.

Wednesday 12 October
Heide
The tour begins at 2 pm this afternoon, when we gather at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport (Terminal 1, baggage carousel number 3) to travel by coach to the Yarra Valley. On the way, we visit the Heide Museum of Modern Art, founded by John and Sunday Reed, art patrons who transformed their acreage outside of Melbourne into a haven for writers and artists. This gem of a museum now houses one of the premiere collections of Australian modernism, with works by Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, and Albert Tucker, and its sculpture garden has works by Anthony Caro, Anish Kapoor and Inge King. After our visit, we continue to our hotel in the Yarra Valley, where we relax and enjoy dinner together. Overnight Yarra Valley. (D)

Thursday 13 October
TarraWarra & the Dandenongs
This morning, after talks in the hotel by Peter Rose and Christopher Menz, we visit the TarraWarra Museum of Art. Founded by Eva and Marc Besen, the collection is housed in a stunning modern space surrounded by vineyards. It includes works by many of Australia’s most prominent artists, including Brett Whiteley, John Olsen, Fred Williams and Rosalie Gascoigne, and often features highly regarded temporary exhibitions. We then enjoy lunch at Coombe, the estate of Dame Nellie Melba followed by a tour of the house and gardens. We then travel through the Dandenong Ranges, in whose temperate forests and secluded valleys artists like Arthur Streeton, Frederick McCubbin and Tom Roberts found inspiration for an emerging Australian style of landscape painting. On returning, we’ll have dinner in the hotel. Overnight Yarra Valley. (B, L, D)

Friday 14 October
The Mornington Peninsula
Today we explore the Mornington Peninsula, starting with a visit to the McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, an endeavour supported generously by Dame Elizabeth Murdoch. The 16-hectare open-air museum displays over 100 large sculptures in park and bushland settings, including ground-breaking works by Inge King, Patricia Piccinini and Ken Unsworth. After our visit we continue touring along the eastern side of the Mornington Peninsula, enjoying the vineyard views across the vineyards, stopping for lunch, and admiring the dramatic coastal scenery. In the later afternoon, we visit Point Nepean Quarantine station, where dozens of historic buildings look out across the bay. We then take the ferry across Port Phillip Bay to Queenscliff, a pretty seaside town. Evening at leisure. Overnight Queenscliff. (B, L)

Saturday 15 October
Barwon Park and Geelong
This morning we explore the history of grazing in Victoria with a visit to Barwon Park to tour the 42-room bluestone mansion built for the squatter Thomas Austin (who is thought to have introduced rabbits to Australia). Now a National Trust estate, the manor exemplifies the wealth acquired by the 19th-century squattocracy. Next is a stop at Geelong, whose role as the main port of the Victorian wool industry made it vital to the Australian economic boom. With its port in decline and the waterfront revitalized, however, the city is taking on a new role. Geelong Art Gallery, part of a multimillion-dollar arts facility, has a strong collection of works that highlight the region’s history. Upon returning to Queenscliff, the later afternoon and evening are at leisure. Overnight Queenscliff. (B)

Sunday 16 October
Ballarat
Ballarat, whose name is derived from indigenous words for “resting place” (Balla Arat), was established as a township in the 1850s, when 20 000 diggers turned up to exploit the newly discovered goldfields (and whose rebellion against strict licensing and heavy taxation shortly afterwards at Eureka shot the town to further prominence). Ballarat’s place in the birth of the national story was further enhanced in the 1880s when the citizens of the town established Australia’s first regional gallery as a way of providing access to art for the people and advancing the city’s status. This morning, we visit the excellent collection at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, which has works by almost every major Australian artist from the 1870s to the end of the 20th century. After lunch, we continue on to Bendigo, stopping to visit Maldon, a small Gold Rush town that has preserved much of its original architecture and feel. Evening at leisure. Overnight Bendigo. (B)

Monday 17 October
Shepparton & the Goulburn Valley
Today we travel to Shepparton, in the Goulburn Valley. The town, although much less prestigious and much smaller than Bendigo and Ballarat, also owes its early development to the Gold Rush, and subsequently to farming and the railways that linked the fertile valleys of northern Victoria to Melbourne. In the morning we’ll visit Shepparton Art Museum, which is housed in a splendid new building by Denton Corker Marshall that opened in 2021. The collection has Australian ceramics, as well as paintings, prints and contemporary Australian art. We then travel to Tahbilk, a historic winery founded in 1860 on the banks of the Goulburn River. Here, we enjoy lunch in its highly regarded restaurant, tour the heritage buildings, and explore the wetlands by boat. Return to Bendigo in late afternoon; the evening is at leisure. Overnight Bendigo (B, L)

Tuesday 18 October
Bendigo
Bendigo’s history parallels Ballarat’s quite closely, from its gold rush origins to the foundation of Bendigo Art Gallery. The main difference between the galleries is the internationally respected temporary exhibitions Bendigo continues to host. After a talk this morning we visit the gallery, whose collection ranges from historic paintings of Bendigo, through to the greats of modern Australian painting and contemporary art. Later, following a lunch break and some leisure time, we take a walking tour of Bendigo’s historic buildings, products of the Gold Rush that are emblematic of the citizens’ aspirations, and visit the Golden Dragon Museum. Later we’ll dine together at one of Bendigo’s fine restaurants. Overnight Bendigo. (B, D)

Wednesday 19 October
Castlemaine and Departure
This morning we travel to the airport, stopping for an out-of-hours visit to Castlemaine Art Museum, whose collections are housed in a beautiful art-deco building. We continue to the airport, arriving at approximately 1pm, in time for mid-afternoon flights. (B)