Museum of Old and New Art

David Walsh Built a Museum Underground Because He Wanted To

MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, opened in January 2011 on the Berriedale Peninsula 12 kilometres north of Hobart on the Derwent River. Its founder, David Walsh, is a professional gambler who built a substantial fortune through computer-assisted syndicate systems and spent a significant portion of it on a private museum. Three floors descend into the sandstone cliff. Natural light reaches only through a central atrium. There are no wall labels.

Walsh’s taste runs toward death, sex, religion, and the places where they overlap – Egyptian mummies share space with Wim Delvoye’s Cloaca Professional (a machine that replicates the human digestive system at life scale, producing its output twice daily) and Julius Popp’s bit.fall (a waterfall that forms individual letters and words from controlled water jets, generating phrases from real-time internet search data). Sidney Nolan’s Snake occupies an entire room: 1,620 individual paintings arranged into a continuous serpent image, one of the largest Australian paintings in existence.

Every visitor receives a device (Walsh calls it the “O”) that detects your location and presents the relevant interpretation: factual information, Walsh’s own commentary (sometimes combative, sometimes genuinely self-deprecating, often admitting uncertainty), and a voting mechanism where you mark each piece “art” or “anti”. The commentary is unusual for a museum in that the curator is present through text in the way curators at other institutions are not – Walsh disagrees with critics, explains why he bought things he isn’t sure about, and occasionally argues with himself.

Getting There

MONA operates its own ferry service from Brooke Street Pier in central Hobart. The catamaran takes 25 minutes and has been designed with the same aesthetic as the museum; there is a bar. The ferry departs at 09:30 and 11:00 daily; check the current schedule at mona.net.au. Return ferries leave the museum hourly from mid-afternoon. Car or taxi from central Hobart takes 20 minutes.

Admission is AUD 30 for adults; Tasmanians enter free. The museum is closed on Tuesdays except during festival periods.

Eating at MONA

The Source restaurant on the museum’s top level uses Tasmanian produce and a wine list reflecting Walsh’s interest in local viticulture. The Tasting Room and museum bar operate at different price points with the same general orientation toward Tasmanian food and wine. Walsh takes the hospitality component as seriously as the art, which is either a commendable holistic approach or a convenient way to increase per-visitor revenue, and is probably both.

Dark Mofo and Mona Foma

MONA runs two annual festivals. Dark Mofo in mid-June marks the winter solstice with installations, performances, and the Nude Solstice Swim in the Derwent River at dawn – which is exactly what it sounds like in a Tasmanian winter. Mona Foma (FOMA: Festival of Music and Art) in January fills Hobart venues with experimental music and performance. Both draw audiences from mainland Australia and internationally; accommodation books out months in advance.

Hobart Beyond the Museum

Salamanca Market runs Saturday mornings at the historic sandstone warehouse district near the waterfront – local produce, craft, and art from 08:30 to 15:00. Mount Wellington (kunanyi) rises 1,271 metres directly behind Hobart and is accessible by road (no public transport to the summit) or a 4-5 hour walk from the city. The summit frequently has snow when the city is mild; the view of Hobart, the Derwent estuary, and the Tasman peninsula on clear days is worth the drive.

MONA is the best reason to visit Hobart, and Hobart is an underrated city that gives you good reasons to stay once you’re there. The combination works.