Vera Scarth-Johnson Gallery Association president Bev Stone (pictured) and secretary Barb Leys will be in Brisbane tonight as they wait to hear whether the Cooktown gallery wins the Volunteer Museum/Gallery of the Year category of the Museum and Gallery Achievement Awards. Photo: Supplied.
Like many remote groups, the Vera Scarth-Johnson Association runs on the smell of an oily rag, but the efforts of its volunteers have been recognised after the beloved Cooktown gallery was shortlisted for a Museums and Galleries Queensland award.
The Vera Scarth-Johnson Gallery, located at Nature’s Powerhouse, is in the running to win the Volunteer Museum/Gallery of the Year category of the 2025 Gallery and Museum Achievement Awards, which will be held in Brisbane tonight (9 September).
It has been a big 12 months for the gallery, which celebrated the release of the second edition of its namesake’s 1999 book, National Treasures: Flowering Plants of Cooktown and Northern Australia, in November, and has recently undergone a revamp through a grant from the Copland Foundation.
Association president Bev Stone and secretary Barb Lays have travelled to the state capital for the awards, with the former telling Cape York Weekly it had been a surprise to find out the gallery had been named an awards finalist.
“We were absolutely blown away,” Ms Stone said.
“I didn’t even know these awards existed, and just to be nominated, and then to be shortlisted, was a great honour.”
Ms Stone said the achievements of the association’s volunteers over the past year or two were extremely visible.
“The original book … ran out of print, and it was a mammoth job to get that up and running and reprinted again,” she reflected.
“And the gallery revamp, we just felt it had been so stagnant for so long, we wanted people to really know who Vera was, not just a bunch of paintings hanging on the wall.
“We were lucky enough to get a grant from the Copland Foundation to assist with revamping the gallery, and it looks absolutely amazing.”
Cooktown will have its collective fingers crossed as the curtain raises on the awards ceremony at the Museum of Brisbane tonight.
