A picture worth a 1000 guesses

Every ten years, the painting travels to regional and rural towns, with Echuca being the 260th venue to host the artwork.

A collection of yearbooks and letters containing peoples guesses also travels alongside the painting.

Mr Shaw said he encourages people to interact with the artwork through sharing their own opinions.

“The idea is that the public record their opinion into these yearbooks and these yearbooks form like a portrait of Australia,” he said.

“What people recorded in the 1980s is gonna be different today, and what people will be doing in 50 years time will be different again as this painting just keeps on touring Australia.”

In 1991, letters began pouring in after information and a promotional sticker of the painting was sent out, asking for opinions on the figure.

In 1994, 24 of these letters were displayed alongside the artwork and by 2009, the number had grown to 240 letters.

Among them are letters from major figures of our time including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan.

The letters are also categorised into thirty different categories including ‘Art’, ‘Sport’, ‘Regionalism’, ‘History’ and many more.

Mr Shaw said all the letters are interesting to read but some of the international guesses are among the most memorable.

“They’re all pretty good, I don’t have any real favourites, but the one from Antarctica was fairly good, I really liked that one,” he said.

“There’s one from Indonesia and that was a really good one, I really like that one too.

“One day, there’s going to be a second identical painting travelling other countries, so we can get people from other countries to write down who the three Australians are.”

The Three Well-known Australians will be on exhibition down at The Foundry Art Space until Sunday, April 27.

Visitors are welcome to take a look at the previous guesses and letters and leave their own.