Draft:Willyama Art Society

The Willyama Art Society was formed in 1961 under the driving influence of Florence May Harding, who was described in 2020 as "the woman who helped make Broken Hill the Art Capital of Outback Australia". Willyama is an Aboriginal word for "hill with broken contour" and is the original name for Broken Hill, NSW.

The founding members of the society included May Harding (secretary and then treasurer until 1971) and fellow artists Alan Cumpston, Kevin Hart (Pro Hart), Sam Byrne, Susan White, Joyce Condon, Hugh Schultz, and John Gregory. John Gregory was the society's president for its first 15 years. The society organised the 2nd Open-air Art Exhibition in Sturt Park, Broken Hill, on November 19, 1961. May Harding wrote a long review of this exhibition, analysing the entries of many of the society's artists. In mid-1962, six members of the society (White, Harding, Cumpston, Hart, Byrne and Gregory) exhibited landscapes in a travelling exhibition The Broken Hill Art Safari, which was arranged by the Airlines of South Australia in conjunction with the Royal South Australian Society of Arts and the Contemporary Arts Society, now known as the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia. May Harding exhibited her painting Argent Street by Night. The exhibition was opened by Josephine Heysen, granddaughter of Hans Heysen, at the department store of John Martin & Co. in Adelaide on July 10, 1962, before touring to Broken Hill, Whyalla, and Port Lincoln.

In 2021, the outbreak of COVID-19 prevented the society from mounting its 60th anniversary exhibition – instead its 61st anniversary was celebrated in an exhibition from December 2 to 17, 2022.