General News
25 April, 2026
Warracknabeal painting wins big
Former Warracknabeal teacher and artist Wayne Elliott won the $ 15,000 Harden Art Prize over the weekend, a national acquisitive prize for landscape painting, with his work “Warracknabeal.”
Mr Elliott, now based in Geelong, took out the prestigious award with an acrylic on canvas painting inspired by Warracknabeal’s landmarks in New South Wales on Saturday, April 18.
The artist, who taught at St Mary’s in Warracknabeal from 1979 to 1984, said the town has stayed with him long after he left the classroom.
“Warracknabeal was always the big open skies, and it always appealed to me,” he said.
Mr Elliott said he recently returned to the district and decided to paint the town again, producing new works of Warracknabeal, including Anzac Park, Scott Street, the Yarriambiack Creek, and surrounding wheat fields.
He completed the prize-winning painting featuring the beautiful Anzac Park earlier this year.
“I’d been back in Warracknabeal early this year in February, and I wanted to paint it again,” he said.
He said the winning work came together after a visit when the landscape looked especially striking.
“The day when I was up there, the clouds were a sort of different, they were quite a different look,” he said.
Mr Elliott said the award meant a lot personally, but also shone a light on the town itself.
“It’s nice that the judge is recognising that it was a very good painting,” he said.
“And it’s nice to paint Warracknabeal.
“Obviously, I’ve got fond memories of Warracknabeal.”
He said the recognition was important for regional communities, which often feature in his work.
“I think it’s great for Warracknabeal,” he said.
“A lot of the paintings that I do are of small country towns.”
The Harden Art Prize is held in Harden, New South Wales, and Mr Elliott said the award is also significant because it is acquisitive, meaning the organisers keep the winning painting as part of the prize.
Mr Elliott has painted and exhibited since the mid-1980s and regularly enters national art prizes.
While this was his first time winning the Harden Art Prize, it was not his first major success, as he had already won another art prize last year.
His winning painting, Warracknabeal, is an acrylic on canvas measuring about 91cm by 91cm.