MELBOURNE STORIES | BUSHRANGERS, BOTANY, ART AND BOOKS: The Grimwade Collection at Melbourne University with Alisa Bunbury

In 1973 the University of Melbourne received a remarkable bequest, the Toorak house Miegunyah and its contents from the estates of Sir Russell and Lady Grimwade. 

Their collection comprises numerous works of art, decorative arts, furniture, rare books, historical documents and other memorabilia. 

Together it provides a twentieth-century perspective on Australia’s colonial history, with dominant themes reflecting Russell Grimwade’s desire to document the exploration, settlement and development of Australia as a nation, and the growth of Melbourne as a city. 

ALISA BUNBURY is the Grimwade Collection Curator at the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne. From 2002-2017 she was Curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery of Victoria, and prior to that worked at the Art Gallery of South Australia. 

image: William Strutt (1825-1915), Bushrangers, Victoria, Australia, 1852 (1887), oil on canvas, The University of Melbourne Art Collection. 1973.0038, Gift of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Bequest 1973.