Brian Robinson takes out People’s Choice in Girra
Published on 19 November 2025
Hervey Bay Regional Gallery is excited to announce the Hervey Bay Boat Club People’s Choice Award for Girra 2025 has been awarded to Cairns based artist Brian Robinson for his distinctive artwork Spring + Sprout II.
Throughout the duration of the exhibition gallery visitors voted for their favourite artwork in the People’s Choice award, a $2,000 prize proudly sponsored by the Hervey Bay Boat Club.
Raised on Waiben (Thursday Island), Robinson is known for his bold and distinctive work across printmaking, sculpture and public art. Robinson’s ancestral lineage extends back to the Maluyligal people of Torres Strait and the Wuthathi people from Cape York Peninsula. In his work, Robinson draws on his family’s cultural and spiritual identity and their connection to the land, flora and fauna fo the region.
The artwork Spring + Sprout II explores the abundance that follows the monsoon season, focusing on native plants and vegetation that have provided food, medicine, and materials for Indigenous communities for tens of thousands of years, fusing traditional knowledge with contemporary pop-culture references.
Hervey Bay Regional Gallery Director Sarah Thomson said Girra: Fraser Coast National Art Prize provides an opportunity to showcase spectacular artworks from across the country that explore our relationship with the environment.
The biennial art prize Girra, invites entries from artists working in any visual art medium from across Australia, offering a $25,000 major acquisitive prize. Fraser Coast Regional Council Arts spokesperson Cr Michelle Govers said this year’s prize attracted more than 250 entries nationwide.
Girra: Fraser Coast National Art Prize is sponsored by Fraser Coast Regional Council, Hervey Bay Boat Club and IAS.
Image: Hervey Bay Boat Club President George Duck and Hervey Bay Regional Gallery's Director Sarah Thomson with Spring + Sprout II, 2023, vinyl cut print on paper mounted to board.
