Local author NOEL BEDDOE continues his occasional series on the people who make our home a remarkable place to live.

A very old man took his two inquisitive granddaughters to the National Gallery of Australia and they spent time examining pieces in a hall of Asian antiquities.

Their grandfather explained that this was only one very small part of the National Gallery, which owned a collection of more than 155,000 individual items. 

The younger child, a pragmatist, wanted to know how much it costs to get in. “It’s free,” her grandfather said, “and you can come as often as you want to.” 

She thought that over for a while and then gave the situation the ultimate approbation of the young: “That’s really cool.”

Over time the girls will revisit the gallery and develop the same great love that their grandfather feels for what guide Merredy Brown calls: “The wonders of this remarkable place”. 

They may do that on their own or they may choose to deepen their knowledge by making use of the gallery’s program of tours. Under this initiative, visitors book a place on the gallery’s website for one of the regular tours, those associated with special exhibitions or highlights of the general collection, conducted by one of the gallery’s trained guides. 

At the recent exhibition of the works of Gauguin, for example, two or three such guided tours were held each day. 

While there was a charge for entry into the Gauguin exhibition, all tours are free.

Two of the gallery’s guides are Merredy Brown and Julie Matthews. Each had friends involved in the program and thought involvement would represent a fascinating and useful way to spend time.

Merredy: “I was in an initial intake of maybe 35 to 40 aspiring guides. Most completed training and entered the program.” 

Julie’s training group was smaller, perhaps 25 people started the course. “A couple dropped out,” she said. “Some had underestimated the time commitment involved and people’s circumstances change. 

“Training covers the areas of the collection, some aspects of response to individual pieces, engaging with participants, a lot of time rehearsing and practising the giving of tours to other class members.”

How do they prepare for individual sessions?

Julie pointed to the support given to tour guides by permanent gallery staff. 

“There are information sessions run by curators at least one Monday a month, and they are invaluable,” she said.

“Curators also take guides through exhibitions and discuss key facts about items. You nominate yourself for particular tours and then sharpen up your knowledge with individual research. 

“I enjoy the research – I find that I’m constantly learning.” 

Merredy said that for exhibitions such as Gauguin, there are normally catalogues created by gallery curatorial staff and these are an invaluable source of information about individual works.

Merredy especially enjoys working with children. 

“You try to create a dialogue and draw them out on what they see in a particular piece. Some of the insights of children are amazing; children see what they see, not what they were told they’re supposed to see,” she said.

The guides discussed the remarkable opportunities they’ve enjoyed, such as discussing the work of El Greco with a child whose father had completed a PhD on the work of the artist; discussing contemporary Aboriginal art with a group including a gallery manager from Alice Springs.

The qualities of a successful guide? The two agreed – a fascination with great art; a capacity for the hard work the research period requires; a sincere interest and enjoyment in discussing art and engaging with groups. 

“And you never know what the issues with a particular group might be,” Merredy said.

“Immediately after covid, there were a couple of groups of young ones who had never been on an escalator; we had to get them into the galleries just for a start.”

Manuela Migneco, communications officer for the National Gallery, told me there were currently 122 active tour guides operating under the program; they provided more than 6300 hours of guiding service to the community in 2023. 

Like Merredy and Julie these people all are volunteers who donate their time and very notable skill unpaid to assist others enjoy what Merredy describes as “the wonders of this remarkable place”.

Noel Beddoe’s work has been published in The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald. Three of his novels have been nominated for the Miles Franklin Literary Award.