Search

Toowoomba-based businessman and benefactor William (Bill) Bolton MBE (1905-1973) collected printed materials, manuscripts and artworks with assistance from Sir Lionel and Sir Daryl Lindsay. Prime Minister Robert Menzies opened Bolton's collection - The Lionel Lindsay Art Gallery and Library - in Toowoomba on 4 April 1959. Sir Lionel hoped that public access to this Gallery and Library would help restore white Australian nationalism and cultural homogeneity. Bolton himself wished his collections to whet patriotic traditions. This paper outlines Bolton's life and `the romantic combination of entrepreneurship and mateship' that shaped his benefactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]