The WAM Collection

The Whangārei Art Museum’s permanent collection traces its roots to 1921, when local artists, including Adele Younghusband and George Woolley, founded the Whangarei Arts and Literary Society. This society was instrumental in advocating for a public art gallery in Whangarei and laid the groundwork for what would become our collection. In 1922, Captain Gilbert Mair made a foundational contribution by donating two paintings by his late wife, E. Kate Sperrey, to the Whangārei Borough Council. This initial gift marked the beginning of a formal collection, soon followed in 1923 by a donation from the Arts and Literary Society itself. These early contributions, bolstered by local artists' ongoing support, generated the momentum necessary to establish a public art collection for the community. Today, the Whangārei Art Museum serves as the guardian of this growing collection, which now includes 1,981 artworks dating as far back as 1895.