The story

On Founders’ Day, Moreton Bay College recognised our 120th year, celebrating the ‘founding seed’ of the Visual and Performing Arts. The college currently holds a significant collection of art, which includes art installations, paintings, photographic work, and sculptures. The collection encompasses purchased works, donated works, and student works.

In the 1990s, the Festival on the Bay was a huge community-wide celebration of art, held at MBC, and annually one artwork from the festival was purchased from that event. Later in the early 2000s, the Primary School started to acquire an artwork each year from the College’s annual Art exhibition Greene-ware, named after one of the school’s founding sisters, Anne Greene. The Secondary School soon followed suit and now each year a piece from both the Primary School and Secondary School is selected by the leadership team to be added to the collection.

In 2006 the College hosted an Anne Greene Acquisition Exhibition, featuring the best works in the school’s collection and highlighting the importance of continuing to add to the collection. While the collection has developed organically in the past, in more recent times, the school has actively pursued the purchase of Anne Greene paintings. In 2012, four Anne Greene paintings were acquired and more recently, this year, we have been blessed to be able to purchase three additional Anne Greene artworks from Philip Bacon Galleries.

In 1901 the Greene sisters founded a school on Bay Terrace which prioritised an appreciation of, and engagement with, visual art as central to the holistic development and growth of the young women in their care. In 2021, the College recognises the significance of the land on which the school was founded and in so doing we have forged a relationship, and entered into an exciting project, with two local indigenous artists – Sonja and Leecee Carmichael - both Ngugi women belonging to the Quandamooka people, to collaboratively produce a commemorative bespoke cyanotype: Girl on Country – Jundal Djara.

The cyanotype composition embodies the narrative of connection to people, place and objects. Panel one encompasses the idea of place as nature – land, sea and sky, using natural objects collected from around the College and woven items created by students, parents and staff during weaving workshops held at the College by Sonja and Leecee. Panel two represents place, people and objects, and includes significant archival objects from the College and two students, who are actually the Art captains. The cyanotype, Girl on Country – Jundal Djara, was unveiled on 26 July at An Evening of Art, during MBC Founders Week.   

Purchase a limited edition print

Limited edition prints of this unique artwork are now for sale.  You can register your interest to purchase by filling in the form below. We will communicate with you directly for order confirmation and payment.

Three are two sizes are available.

• Memento Edition – 20cm x 52cm (unframed), Photo Rag Matte, $150 per print
• Collectors’ Edition – 40cm x 104cm (unframed), Photo Rag Matte, $300 per print

Please register your interest by filling in the form below.   We will communicate with you directly for order confirmation and payment.