Spa Country

Distinguished and Famous people from Spa Country

🎨 David Bromley

David Bromley's Daylesford studios and gallery connect Spa Country with a contemporary artistic practice extending from painting into sculpture and other objects. Born in Sheffield and brought to Australia as a child, he developed a recognisable figurative style, particularly through paintings of children and female portraits. Bronze and resin sculptures carry some of those figures into three dimensions. His business also exhibits other artists' work and undertakes creative collaborations. The Daylesford connection is an active working base, alongside his Melbourne premises. It provides a cultural thread in a region often introduced mainly through mineral springs, accommodation and the attractions of a restorative weekend.

🏛️ Tina Banitska

Artist and ceramicist Tina Banitska gave one of Daylesford's prominent buildings a new public life. After running a pottery and gallery at Springmount, she bought the disused convent in 1988, when it required extensive repairs. Restoration led to its opening as an art gallery in 1991. The project combined her own artistic background with the work of preserving a substantial historic property and creating space for exhibitions. It is a particularly visible local achievement: visitors encounter the building and its art because someone took on the difficult transition from deteriorating former convent to cultural venue. Her connection is the development and continuing stewardship of that Daylesford project.