Hundreds of precious artworks housed at Lismore Regional Gallery have been damaged by the catastrophic floodwaters to engulf the town this week.
Among the items to go under were Geoff Hannah's renowned and intricate masterwork the Hannah Cabinet and works by Margaret Olley and Max Dupain.
A campaign in 2019 raised $1 million to acquire and keep the Hannah Cabinet in Mr Hannah's hometown of Lismore.
The cabinet took six-and-a-half years to make and has 92 drawers. It was made from 34 types of timber, four rare species of shell and 17 types of precious and semi-precious stones.
The gallery also housed several collections from local artists and the Afghanistan war rugs collection being toured by the Australian National University Drill Hall Gallery.
Gallery director Ashleigh Ralph said they moved everything they could to the second floor, but the flood was much higher than expected and nothing was spared.
"Everything is covered in a thick, silty mud and there is just stuff everywhere, artworks strewn everywhere."
'It's just destruction'
Mr Hannah was today able to access the art gallery and saw first-hand the damage to the masterpiece into which he poured so much time and energy.
"It's just all toppled over, all the ebony columns are laying on the ground, the top section of the cabinet is upside down, the bottom section is on its back suspended on other objects.
"It's just like destruction up there and here it is amongst it. It's hard to think, my mind is just scrambled about it.
"I saw other artworks on the ground ... mud all over them, it's just everywhere. There's a lot of other artists in the same position."
Mr Hannah said the plan was to remove the cabinet from the top floor using a crane and transport it to either Brisbane or Canberra to be slowly dried and assessed.
"Water would have soaked all through it; the sooner we can get it out of there, the better for the recovery part of it," he said.
Mr Hannah's home and workshop were also inundated in the floods and he said there was a long clean-up ahead.
"The house is bloody terrible, it's the whole house and workshop affected like every other residence in Lismore.
"You dust yourself off ... we just hope we get a bit of positivity back."
Support flows in
Ms Ralph said messages of support were flowing in from far and wide, with clean-up and recovery efforts to begin at the gallery on Friday.
"We've had a lot of people reach out to us to ask how they can help," she said.
"We do have conservators from across the east coast to help us.
"That was organised by Museums and Galleries NSW, so we are getting a lot of support. It's a relief.
"The gallery plays such a big part in the culture of Lismore and it represents a history of Lismore."
