Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre — Attraction in South Murwillumbah

This has a very warm, friendly and clean environment. John greeted us at the front door as though we were long lost friends. He informed us about the gallery and it’s layout. We had a lovely walk around. It is in a beautiful scenic position on a hill with windows facing Mount Warning. The land was donated to council by the Doug Anthony (MP) family and a couple of other farming families. A very lovely farm indeed. Most of the Art on display are very recent so don’t except Monet or Renoir but the Margate Olly gallery was worth the visit. Lots of memorabilia from the “good old days”. Reminded me of my grandparents place. The lady at the M section of the gallery was on her first day but was able to answer our questions through a little booklet she had. I didn’t try out the cafe, but again had great views of mount warning. The only issue that I had was the car 🚘 parking. We arrived at the top of the gallery and saw some car parking spaces and assumed it was for staff. We continued down to the bottom 🚗 car park and parked in the disabled section as we have a disabled sticker ( near the staircase). When we got out of the car we did not see any signs for the lift nor did we know their actually was a lift. So we had to climb up a rather steep staircase. So lift signs would be good or move the disable parking up to the top section/front of building before you go to the bottom car park. Otherwise a good...

Nestled in beautiful countryside, this gallery is thoughtfully constructed to provide glimpses of the surrounding countryside from within the museum. Far from the larger and impersonal galleries in the cities, it offers a more intimate viewing of the artworks, where you can get up close to the hangings, and linger over particular pieces. There was an eclectic range of exhibitions, all very nicely curated. The highlight of course was the Margaret Olley permanent exhibition of large parts of her home in Paddington, Sydney. A friendly and knowledgeable volunteer guide helped paint the picture of the artist's life and her bequest which led to the creation of this permanent exhibition. Although there were many painting and photographic tributes by artists who knew Olley, I would have liked to have seen a bigger collection of her own work. The musem premises includes a small giftshop with a nice collection of work from local artists. There is also a cafe with stunning views, but this was closed when we were there. Tweed Regional Art Gallery ranks among my top20 galleries...

This is a clear 5 because the Olley stuff is great, and the other exhibitions were also outstanding, and the building and the views were great BUT...

1. We approached from Uki. Our GPS took us winding through Murwillumbah when there was a road that goes south of the river direct to the gallery. It is really important that the gallery have signage on all relevant approach roads.
2. The restaurant produced good food--after we found out what to do. A simple sign saying "Take a seat. Decide what to eat. Order at the bar" would remove the stress and uncertainty. The manager knew this, but did not seem interested in providing it and had a haughty manner throughout.
3. It was really windy. A wait person responded to some requests and half closed the relevant door. We did not see her again. Eventually the manager closed the wrong door and opened the half-closed one. Fail. A little later he gave in to the obvious and closed the relevant door. This should be a really simple one, but his arrogance got in the way. Not a good way to do...