NERAM, as it is universally known, holds one of the most significant regional art collections in Australia. The Howard Hinton Collection — assembled by a Sydney businessman who never lived in Armidale but donated everything to its people — contains thousands of works spanning Australian art from the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth, including important pieces by Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts, and Hans Heysen. A second major collection, the Chandler Coventry bequest, added more contemporary Australian works.
The gallery building is set in a garden that doubles as a sculpture walk. Entry is reasonably priced and the exhibitions rotate regularly. For a regional city of Armidale's size, the quality of the collection is genuinely surprising.