Since its establishment in 1896 the Gallery has amassed a magnificent collection of 19th and 20th century Australian and European paintings and decorative arts, including 18th and 19th century English porcelain, British art pottery, colonial Australian silver, as well as contemporary Australian paintings, prints, sculpture and ceramics. A particular focus of the collection is early images of the Geelong region.
The Gallery’s outstanding collection includes many works of national significance such as Eugène von Guérard’s View of Geelong (1856) and Frederick McCubbin’s A bush burial (1890).