2026 Community Heritage Grant recipients

We’re pleased to announce that 45 community organisations are receiving a Community Heritage Grant in 2026.

The Community Heritage Grants program is currently in its 32nd year of operation and supports community organisations to care for Australian cultural heritage collections of national significance. Find out more about the CHG program.

Organisations receiving a 2026 Community Heritage Grant include the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS), Laynhapuy Homelands Aboriginal Corporation, Broken Hill City Art Gallery and many others.

View the full list of recipients

Broken Hill City Art Gallery

A room filled with metal racks holding numerous framed paintings and artworks on wheels.

Broken Hill City Art Gallery art store, courtesy of Broken Hill City Art Gallery.

The Broken Hill City Art Gallery is delighted to receive support through the 2026 Community Heritage Grants. This funding will enable essential restoration to be undertaken on a work by one of Broken Hill’s most celebrated artists, Pro Hart, in a year which marks the 20th anniversary of his passing. This project is preserving his artistic legacy for future generations to experience and enjoy

A spokesperson for the Broken Hill City Art Gallery

Established in 1904, Broken Hill City Art Gallery is Australia's oldest regional public art gallery. Operated by Broken Hill City Council, the Gallery holds more than 2,000 artworks, reflecting the artistic, cultural, and social history of Broken Hill and regional Australia. The collection includes paintings, works on paper, and significant works by artists associated with the region.

Laynhapuy Homelands Aboriginal Corporation

An elderly man wearing a shirt with black, grey and yellow stripes while smiling at the camera.

Jonetani Rika, courtesy of the Laynhapuy Homelands Aboriginal Corporation

Beginning in the early 1970s, the homelands movement was one of the ways elders sought to protect Yolŋu from dangers that the mining industry introduced to North-East Arnhem Land.

It was a powerful movement and a beautiful expression of self-determination. Thanks to their vision and their hard work, today, the Laynhapuy homelands are still places of strength and wellbeing – heartlands of Yolŋu language and culture. From the very beginning of the homelands movement, Jonetani Rika walked and worked alongside the old people to help them realise their vision. His diaries tell that story from a unique and deeply authentic perspective.

We are enormously grateful to receive CHG funding to properly assess Mr Rika’s diaries, to explore how they might be protected, reproduced and in some cases restored. As a hero of the homelands movement and a loyal and faithful friend to generations of Yolŋu, Mr Rika is a much-beloved community member. A very old man now, this project honours the unique contribution he has made over the last sixty years and invites current homelands families to reflect on their own efforts to sustain the movement in an increasingly complex and challenging world.

A spokesperson for the Laynhapuy Homelands Aboriginal Corporation

Laynhapuy Homelands Aboriginal Corporation (Laynha) is a Yolŋu-owned and governed organisation established in 1985 to support Aboriginal people living on their traditional homelands across North-East Arnhem Land. Emerging from the Yolŋu homelands movement of the 1970s, the organisation provides essential services to approximately 30 homeland communities. Central to its work is the protection and continuation of Yolŋu culture, language, knowledge, and connection to Country.

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS)

An indoor museum exhibit featuring several glass display cases with red velvet bases, showcasing historical artifacts. The walls are lined with informational panels and photographs. A prominent display case on the left has a red background and features portraits of individuals. The floor is green carpeted, and the space is well-lit with overhead lighting.

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Museum, courtesy of Helen Laffin, Senior Heritage Collections Co-ordinator/Curator.

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Heritage Collection is very grateful and excited to be a recipient of a Community Heritage Grant. This will be used to work with a professional historian to complete a significance assessment of our vast collection. Our team is small and our collection includes valuable archives and heritage material. The assessment will help to guide us in planning our future preservation goals and broadening our connections with visitors.

A spokesperson for the RACS Heritage Collection

The RACS is the peak professional body responsible for surgical education, training, standards, and professional development across Australia and New Zealand. Established in the 1920s, the College was formed to provide local specialist surgical training independent of British institutions and has since become a leading advocate for surgical excellence, research, and healthcare improvement. RACS supports more than 7,000 practising surgeons and 1,300 trainees and contributes to surgical education and outreach throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

About Community Heritage Grants

Since 1994, the CHG program has provided a total of $10.15 million dollars to more than 1,800 projects across Australia.

It is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts; National Library of Australia; National Archives of Australia; National Film and Sound Archive; and National Museum of Australia.