If a decade ago you’d told a resident of Hobart that their city would soon be an international art destination they’d likely sniff and call you a “yaffler” (Google it).

The picturesque capital city of Tasmania’s island state, one hundred and fifty miles off the coast of Australia’s mainland, has a population of 230,000 people and has historically been known more for agriculture than art. 

But that’s exactly what has happened. Eight years ago, David Walsh – a wine-making, bon-vivant bibliophile with an Aspergers-fuelled-mathematical genius and a fortune made through gambling – built a museum to house his vast and (extremely) eclectic personal collection centred around two themes: sex and death. ...