Wenz Collection Forbes

08/05/2026

Congratulations to Monica, Marie and their Galari River Arts team for their production of Master of Nanima, a radio play by Marion Ord (ABC, 1962) about Paul and Hettie's life together on Nanima Station and in France. And congratulations, too, to the staff of Lachie Cafe, in the Forbes Tourist Centre, for the dinner. Wonderful to hear an ABC radio play written so long ago given a new life. Congratulations to the team and to everyone who supported them.

08/05/2026

16/03/2026

Our State MP Philip Donato recently had a tour of The Forbes Historical Museum, which included the Wenz Collection Forbes.

It was a joy showing Mr Donato our wonderful collection, sharing the history and explaining why this collection is so important.

09/03/2026

Many of our Wenzday Writers have written about our Bila Galari, the Galari-Lachlan River, which has sustained human life in our region for millennia. In the process, they are discovering Nature Writing, one of my favourite genres. One nature writer I particularly enjoy is Robert Macfarlane, especially his provocative 2025 publication, Is A River Alive? I recommend it to anyone who cares about our endangered aquatic ecological communities and mourns the current state of our rivers. But there is also good news about the Galari-Lachlan's future, as several of our Wenzday Writers point out.
Am really proud of all our Wenzday Writers and am looking forward to day when I can finally hit the Publish button to share their words with the rest of the world. This will probably occur on Paul Wenz's birthday, 18 August, when we'll be celebrating our current crop of Wenzday Writers and inviting submissions for 2027.

09/03/2026

Maree Yapp, one of our M3 (the 3 women with names starting with M who are responsible for our Wenzday Project) was named Forbes Citizen of the Year on Australia Day, and now, in March, has been proclaimed the 2026 Local Woman of the Year for our state electorate of Orange. So proud of you Maree! Congratulations and a hug! Your fellow M3s are delighted that you’ve been formally acknowledged for all the good work you’ve been doing in our shire and beyond for years. We’re so proud to be collaborating with you on our Wenzday Project.
Oh, and Maree is producing our Master of Nanima radio play to be performed on 1 May 2026, and is one of our Wenzday Writers too! You’ll be able to read her beautiful memoir on 18 August, Paul Wenz’s birthday, when we’ll be publishing our first crop of Wenzday stories on our website and celebrating their authors at a public reading in Forbes Museum.

https://www.facebook.com/100064306683940/posts/1005402298279984/?

She won!!

In a field of amazing candidates, our Maree was recognised as the 2025 Forbes Citizen of the Year; and we couldn't be prouder 🤗

Maree's passion has ignited positive change. Her tireless work and selfless spirit has profoundly impacted countless families.

We are truly inspired by Maree, and deeply grateful for her invaluable contributions to Forbes and surrounding communities - even better, we are thrilled to call her our friend ❤️❤️❤️

09/03/2026

In April 2019, I (Merrill) had the pleasure of showing French storyteller Solene Anglaret around Forbes and beyond. Solene is the grandniece of Nicole Wenz, the widow of one of Paul and Hettie's nephews. Nicole was very kind and generous to me and to our Wenz Collection when I visited Paris years ago. As a writer and world traveller herself, Solene identifies strongly with Paul Wenz. Now, she and a friend, Xannie, have taken to songwriting and released a single called Stigma Free 'to break the stigma around mental health diagnoses - especially Borderline Personality Disorder.' A great song, which might inspire some of our Wenzday Writers to set their own words to music for the greater good. You can listen to Solene and Xannie's very contemporary song on the usual music streaming platforms (Spotify etc), or follow her journey on Tiktok, Insta, and YouTube. And/or you can take inspiration from her wonderful website, bebeyondborders.com. Solene is now living in Dubai and loves it - despite the threat of war hanging over the Gulf states. Keep safe, dear Solene.

16/02/2026

"The Master of Nanima"

🎙️ Recording week is officially here!

After a two-month hiatus, the team is back in action and smashing through the script.

There is something special about recording "The Master of Nanima" in the presence of the Wenz Collection. It brings a whole new depth to the project. 📻 🎧

But there is something more special being with people that make you feel good, are willing to have a go and support one another.

What a team 💫✨💛

Galari River Arts Forbes Inc

The Forbes Historical Museum

08/02/2026

Many more writers than expected have contributed stories to our Wenzday Project here in Forbes, New South Wales! Thank you! I’m so proud of you all. Indeed, am feeling a bit overwhelmed!

When these stories are published with their accompanying photos on our Wenzdayproject.wordpress.com website, they will surprise, inspire and delight you, and add new meanings to what it is to live in and around the beautiful Shire of Forbes. A couple of Wenzday stories might even bring tears to your eyes. They did mine!

The M3 who are responsible for the Wenzday Project (Maree - who took the photos below - Monica and Merrill) met at The Van on the weekend to discuss the publishing process and do a bit of forward planning. We agreed to keep the current Wenzday dates (call for submissions on Paul’s birthday, 18 August, with the submission deadline set for Hettie’s birthday, 28 January.) But we also planned something new and exciting for 18 August: a special event to celebrate our first Wenzday Writers and give them an opportunity to read from their published works. This gig will be integrated into an extended Galari River Arts Festival program, and probably held at Forbes Museum. More on that soon.

It’s very important to we M3 collaborators that we honour, support and listen to our local creative writers, and congratulate them in public. And that we encourage yet more local wordsmiths to author their own stories about life in and around Forbes Shire as part of this project.

Paul and Hettie would be so proud that their legacy is enriching the lives of new generations of locals within the Galari-Lachlan River system they loved. (And, yes, quite a few of our first crop of Wenzday stories are about our beloved river and all those who’ve lived within its embrace over tens of thousands of years!)

08/02/2026

We eagerly look forward to Tegan Anthes’ visit to assess and preserve the Paul and Hettie Wenz collection. These significant books, photographs, and artifacts are held at The Forbes Historical Museum. Tegan’s work will ensure they remain in excellent condition for future generations.

Tegan Anthes Collection Preservation

https://mgnsw.org.au/consultants/collection-preservation/

https://wenzdayproject.wordpress.com/

29/01/2026

Wow! We've now received our first batch of Wenzday stories from our talented Wenzday writers. And they're great!
Our deadline for submissions was yesterday, 28 January (Hettie Wenz's birthday) - so thank you to all our writers who submitted their stories by that date. But deadlines are often hard to meet for all kinds of reasons. So if you missed this one and would still like to be published on wenzdayproject.wordpress.com/, please email wenzprojectforbes(at)gmail.com, let me know how you're going with your story and what I can do to help ... and request an extension. Because your stories are important to us and deserve to be published.

26/01/2026

ATT'N WENZDAY WRITERS
Deadline for your Wenzday stories is fast approaching! Please email them to [email protected]

Send a message to learn more