Emeritus Professor Janice Reid AC Collection

In 1998, Emeritus Professor Janice Reid AC became Vice-Chancellor and President of Western Sydney University (then known as the University of Western Sydney), holding this position for 16 years. During her leadership she led the merger of Hawkesbury, Macarthur and Nepean colleges to build a multi-campus university of over 40,000 students. In 2014 the University was recognised as one of the global leaders in higher education and ranked in the top 100 Universities under 50 years of age worldwide.

Emeritus Professor Reid believed a university of Western Sydney University calibre should have a worthy art collection. The university collection evolved during Emeritus Professor Reid’s time as Vice Chancellor and President due in part to her significant donation of artworks to the University and the biannual acquisitive sculpture competition held at the University which encourage emerging and established sculptors to display major artworks on the university campuses.

This online collection highlights the artworks Emeritus Professor Reid donated to the university including a significant collection of Indigenous Australian artwork. Emeritus Professor Reid own research and advocacy has been as a medical anthropologist in the field of indigenous and refugee health and health care, occupational and mental health. During 1974–75 and beyond Emeritus Professor Reid was in Yirrkala, northeast Arnhem Land, studying the Yolngu concepts of illness and healing. There are artworks in this collection form artists from the community of Yirrkala, and the homelands beyond.