Council's art collection

The Campaspe Shire Council's art collection is a collection of two dimensional and small three dimensional works owned by Council that are displayed in Council office spaces and parks as well as in public exhibitions. is also available to view through the eHive website.

The pieces have been collected for many years and include gifts and donations as well as purchased artworks.

The Rathbone Collection is a key element of Council's art collected and is a group of seventy-one paintings of early Echuca and district painted by George M. Rathbone who received initial instruction in pastel art but later in life moved to oil painting and painted voraciously in his retirement.

The paintings, informed by Rathbone’s maternal grandmother and mother and painted in the naïve tradition, provide, in many cases, the only pictorial representation of historical events and elements of Echuca and District.

The collection was gifted to the Shire of Campaspe following Rathbone’s death in 1980.

The collection is in storage in Kyabram and available for public exhibition. Please contact our Arts & Culture Coordinator if you would like to exhibit any work in the collection.