Geoff Raby has donated his 174-piece collection, mainly work by contemporary Chinese artists since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976

Dr Raby began collecting when an Australian diplomat in China in the mid ‘80s.  He now lives in Beijing and runs a cross-culture business advice firm.

“La Trobe U gave me the knowledge and life-skills to achieve things that were unimaginable to me when I first walked through its doors in March 1973 … The collection is a small recognition of all that the institution and its staff, past and present, have done for so many students from Australia and overseas,” he says.

The gift is made under the Commonwealth’s Cultural Gifts Programme, which “offers tax incentives to encourage people to donate cultural items to public art galleries, museums, libraries and archives in Australia.”