At a town hall meeting in Castlemaine on Wednesday, gallery directors announced it was gifted $50,000 from the Macfarlane Fund towards its continued operation. Combined with an anonymous $250,000 donation, the money meant the gallery would remain open to the public while a sustainable revenue source was hunted.  

The fund, named in honour of the late businessman Don Macfarlane, was only launched two weeks ago, about the same time as the gallery announced its Lyttleton Street site was to be mothballed. 

But Mr Macfarlane's daughter, Melissa, said the decision to help the ailing venue was a natural one: Castlemaine was her father's favourite gallery and she was sure he would have done the same had he been alive. 

Since his retirement, and until his death last year, the former head of Amcor spent every day at his easel.

While the fund’s primary purpose is providing support directly to artists, an emergency meeting of its board agreed to aid the Castlemaine gallery through crisis.   

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"One of the things that was on our radar was to support our regional galleries by buying work and donating to them," Ms Macfarlane said. 

"But there's no point in buying art for galleries if galleries don't exist."

A successful local businesswoman in her own right, having owned both Dayleford's Farmers Arms hotel the King George in Kyneton, Ms Macfarlane believed the gallery's loss would have been felt dramatically by the wider community. 

"Having a gallery like that is one of the reasons people move to this region, so the idea that it is in trouble is a bit terrifying," she said.

Read more: ‘Blood on government’s hands’ if gallery closes: MP

Ms Macfarlane hoped the contribution would be used to consult the community on what they believed was distinct about its gallery’s identity.  

While some members were determined the current board were not part of that vision, Ms Macfarlane said the $50,000 was contingent on the current directors remaining in place.

The fund would consider further donations to Castlemaine once a blueprint for the future was drawn up, she said.  

The anonymous donation also came with conditions, demanding better support for the gallery from the Mount Alexander Shire Council. 

Both burgeoning talents and long-serving members of the artistic community will benefit from the newly formed Macfarlane Fund. 

The memorial fund, which last week saved the Castlemaine Art Gallery from closure, will also gift fine arts graduates from RMIT University residencies in Kyneton and Los Angeles to pursue their creative practices. 

A $50,000 amount, the Macfarlane Prize, will also be awarded to a senior Australian artist who the fund judges to have provided leadership and mentoring to the field of study.  

“This is the prize that most represents his ethos – it’s for artists who have taken risks, made breakthroughs and inspired other artists, and also maintained a commitment to mentoring others,” she said.

Pat Brassington was last month announced the inaugural recipient of the lucrative prize.