Merle Hathaway (born 1948) is an English-born Australian museum curator, exhibition curator, art advisor, project manager and former regional gallery director with a sustained career in arts education and cultural institutions in regional Victoria.
She was born in Wing, Buckinghamshire, England, and migrated to Australia with her family in 1951 under the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme, initially living in Bathurst, New South Wales, before settling in Ballarat, Victoria. Hathaway was educated at Wendouree Primary School and Ballarat High School, studied art at the Ballarat School of Mines, and began a Diploma of Art and Design at Prahran Technical College in 1973, with a focus on sculpture, then after marrying sculptor Michael Young returned to complete her diploma in Ballarat. She later undertook a Diploma of Education at Hawthorn Teachers College and worked as an art teacher and education consultant for the Victorian Education Department.
From the early 1980s Hathaway played a key role in regional arts development, serving as an art consultant for the Central Highlands and Wimmera regions and as Community Arts Officer for Ballarat. She coordinated Ballarat’s inaugural Next Wave Festival, co-founded the Ballarat Arts Umbrella, and was involved in establishing the artist-run Artworks gallery. Between 1991 and 2001 she was Education Officer at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, where she developed extensive community and schools programs, before moving into broader curatorial and festival coordination roles. In 1995 she joined the Horsham Regional Art Gallery and became its Director in 1997, overseeing significant program growth and achieving Museum Accreditation, which enabled the gallery to secure major institutional loans. During this period she also co-founded and chaired the Horsham Regional Arts Association. She later served as Executive Officer of the Public Galleries Association of Victoria, contributing to policy development and sector advocacy.
Since 2010 Hathaway has remained active through freelance curatorial and advisory work as 'The Artist’s Cat.’, assisting artists and estates with exhibition development, documentation and publications. She has also held numerous volunteer and advisory roles, including with the Ballarat International Foto Biennale, the Royal South Street Society, the Ballarat Soup Bus and the Art Advisory Council of the Wildlife Art Museum Australia. Her publications include exhibition catalogues, collaborative books on regional artists and writing on visual arts education and children’s literature. In 2020 she was recognised as a Distinguished Alumna of Federation University for her Diploma of Art and Design.
- Writers:
-
James McArdle
- Date written:
- 2025
- Last updated:
- 2025
