Glenville Pike was a prolific historian of the region who painted scenes taken from historic photographs in his publications. While unlikely to attract the attention of the art world, the 19 paintings displayed high on a wall in the Information Centre area of the Museum are competently done and add an aesthetically pleasing experience to the Visitor Information Centre and to the mining history shown through the museum displays.
Paintings by Terri Tanner, mostly portraits of historically important figures in the development of mining in the region, are on display and impart an aesthetic sense to the museum displays.
Painting of Irvinebank Hotel, previously the Australian Hotel, by James (Junior) Baines, who now lives in Malanda. It was painted in 1980 and the hotel burnt down in the late 1980s. The artist’s works are in public and private collections in every continent. In 2006 he won the International Artist magazine Best Landscape Award and has won many other awards ,including Highly Commended in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize.21 He paints in a variety of styles but his historical works are usually more realist, though recently tend to be in montages.
The Risley Sculpture by well-known artist and sculptor Tom Risley, who lived in Herberton for many years, is in the Museum grounds. It is an early work but is within the major theme of Risley’s work, the environment. In this case, it represents the hills and waterfalls of the Atherton Tablelands, though lacking the original water feature. Its garden setting, with the backdrop of the Herberton hills, adds to the original concept and was chosen by the artist himself. Risley’s works are in public and private collections internationally. It is an important early work by the artist and one of his rare commissioned works.
© Herberton Mining Museum History Association 2024