Location

The Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre is located on the New England Highway three hours drive northwest of Sydney and roughly two hours from Newcastle.

The Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre manages a large permanent collection which was originally founded through the Art Prize in the late 1950s.  Astute adjudication of the prize over the years has provided the local community with an excellent cross-section of mid 20th century Australian art.  The Shire Collection was complemented during the early 1990s when local art collector Max Watters began to loan his collection of Australian art to the community. 

This process was formalised in March 2004 through a major bequest of over 300 works by Max Watters. The Max Watters Collection spans about 40 years of mid to late 20th century Australian art representing major developments in this period through the work of artists such as: Tony Tuckson, Ken Whisson, Danila Vassilieff, Grace Cossington-Smith, John Perceval, John Plapp, and Euan Macleod, to name a few.