Vegemite Art Exhibition – Cyril Callister Museum

Art students from Beaufort High have been painting with Vegemite to celebrate 100 years of the salty black paste and its inventor Cyril Callister.

An exhibition of 16 paintings will hang at the Cyril Callister Museum, home of all things Vegemite and its creator, for eight weeks from Wednesday, June 21, 2023.  Open Wednesdays to Saturdays, 10am – 2pm

Art teacher Simone Conroy said the project encouraged students from year 9 and 10 to think outside the box while learning about art, architecture, design and local history.

“This town inspires imagination. Explorer and surveyor Thomas Mitchell passed through the district on his expedition of 1836. Beaufort has a population of about 1710 but in the mid-1800s, the town supported digs at Fiery Creek with a population of about 100,000 at the height of the gold rushes. It was a place of innovation and invention.”

Landmarks painted by the students include Beaufort Court House (1864) now home to Beaufort Historical Society, the Mechanics Institute (1863) and Fire Brigade.

Year 10 student Elizabeth Banjanin, 15, painted a near 100-year-old war memorial.

Liza Robinson, who runs the Cyril Callister Museum, said the exhibition, opening just ahead of the Winter school holidays, was destined to be a hit.

“We hope to inspire a new generation to visit the Cyril Callister Museum to learn about Cyril and his contributions to chemistry and food science,” Ms Robinson said.

Beaufort is a heritage town at the entry to the Victorian goldfields. It is about a two-hour drive north west of Melbourne. Cyril Callister, inventor of Vegemite, grew up in nearby Chute.

Vegemite is turning 100 in 2023. The first jars of Vegemite rolled off production lines in 1923.

Find the Cyril Callister Museum at Servo@23, 23 Neill Street, Beaufort. It opens from Wednesdays to Saturdays, 10am – 2pm. Entry is free.

The museum tells the story of inventor Cyril Callister and his life’s journey, enjoy a growing collection of Vegemite memorabilia with some pieces from the 1940’s.  A small collection of Vegemite merchandise is also on sale. Entrance is by donation and we are open by appointment for groups over 20.

All revenue from the Museum goes to the Cyril Callister Foundation Inc, for future science scholarships to provide regional youth the opportunity to attend the Federation University , Ballarat.

www.cyrilcallisterfoundation.org

cyrilcallisterfoundation@gmail.com

Phone 0414 082 754

Facebook Instagram #cyrilcallisterfoundationinc

Twitter @cyrilcallister2