Hobart’s landmark Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) has racked up a staggering $408 million in losses since it opened in 2011, but founder David Walsh insists he is “completely happy with the finances”.
Previously unreported corporate filings for parent company Moorilla Estate, which owns and operates Mona, show that at last count, the celebrated art museum, brewery, winery, spin-off festivals and other associated businesses lost $63 million in 2023-24, up from $60 million the year before.
More recent figures are not due for release until the first half of next year.
“Mona is financially where I want it to be,” Mr Walsh told the ABC by email.
Mona founder David Walsh and his wife, artist Kirsha Kaechele. (Credit: Amy Brown)
“Mona will never make money [in and of itself], and it was never intended to. If I wanted to make money, I would have built it in Sydney, or Istanbul, or somewhere.
“I’m fine spending — I’m not the most committed capitalist — and I like building stuff.”
Mr Walsh is completing a $100 million extension at Mona, comprising a new wing of the gallery that will open in December and a library to open next year.
He is also still contemplating a major hotel on the site, after a $400 million, 176-bed proposed development was shelved in 2021.
Mona ditches ‘HoMo’ name as it unveils plans for new hotel
Signs on the construction site hoarding at Mona proclaim: “Yep, David’s building something new. At this point, we’ve given up trying to stop him.”
In round figures, Mr Walsh said Mona had cost him about $25 million per year long term.
He cited an unreleased 2018 report by Deloitte Access economics, which showed the gallery generated $135 million per year in direct and indirect economic activity in Tasmania — equivalent to 1,285 jobs across the state — and $165 million nationally. “Whether that’s worthwhile, I really don’t know,” Mr Walsh wrote.
“Hopefully, Mona will have sufficient income.”
Moorilla Estate earnings (2017–2024)
(Source: Modern slavery reports, ASIC)
Financial yearRevenue ($)Profit/loss ($)Employees201731,946,483−23,012,384 201836,141,295−28,527,794100201943,381,408−28,843,554790202034,256,038−19,936,351450202133,981,518−23,415,829430202237,434,358−33,898,873482202344,939,862−43,666,181503202441,373,041−63,405,101509
Mr Walsh, 64, said his wife, artist Kirsha Kaechele, who was the subject of a recent Australian Story program, would continue to support the gallery when he died.
“In the event that I die today and Kirsha wanted to change the revenue base, it’s pretty easy to do,” he said.
Artist Kirsha Kaechele (centre) has been in the news over her women-only Ladies Lounge. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)
Mr Walsh sketched out an example of how Mona could save roughly $20 million per year:
Raising ticket prices for the 300,000 interstate and international visitors per year, from $39 to $80 (estimated annual revenue raised: $12 million)”We could charge Tasmanians a bit, say $30.” Tasmanians currently get free entry (estimated annual revenue raised: $3 million)”Reduce music offerings, since music isn’t why non-Tasmanians visit” (estimated annual saving: $2 million)”Scale Dark Mofo back a bit” (estimated annual saving: $3 million).Art critics told Kirsha she ‘wasn’t relevant’. Then she blew up the patriarchy
Mr Walsh said Mona could also take a range of smaller steps to make the gallery profitable, such as charging for exhibitions, increasing the ferry price and charging for the library.
“We could do simple stuff, like open on days when there are cruise ships and market to them. I’m not a fan of cruise ships in Hobart [at least the all-inclusive type], so I don’t do that at the moment,” he said.
“I won’t do any of this stuff, but others will in my absence, if necessary.”
Mr Walsh said last year he trimmed annual costs at Mona by roughly $9 million by cancelling summer’s MONA FOMA festival at Launceston, and securing extra state government support (worth $7 million a year) for the Dark Mofo winter festival, for which tickets for the 2026 event recently went on sale.
Do you know more? Contact Paddy Manning at manning.paddy@abc.net.au
Mr Walsh has also swung the axe in the past year, with Mona shedding some 50 people — almost a tenth of the 509 employees reported in the company’s modern slavery statements filed by his private company, Downward Spiral Enterprises (DSE).
The new wing and library will cost more than the original museum did, Mr Walsh says. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)
DSE owns Moorilla Estate and also owns the Mona building itself (via the separate Moorilla Unit Trust) as well as Mona’s art collection (held in the Family Art Group) and subsidiaries Darklab (which runs Dark Mofo, the Odeon Theatre and the Hanging Gardens) and Aegres Art Group.
Mr Walsh famously made his fortune gambling as part of a global syndicate that bets $10 billion a year.
Mona founder started museum out of guilt for making gambling millions
His current wealth is unknown, but his decades-long partner, Zeljko Ranogajec, once appeared on the Australian Financial Review’s Rich List with a fortune of $600 million.
One of their companies, Data Processors, is currently suing a group of former employees for allegedly stealing intellectual property — a case which has exposed the notoriously private betting operation to rare scrutiny.
Mr Walsh would not comment on the case, except to say “there wasn’t much money involved”.
David Walsh believes there is untapped value in some parts of his businesses.
 (ABC News: Scott Ross)
While Mona has always lost money, Mr Walsh argues the losses are moderating and there is as-yet-untapped value in some of the group’s subsidiary businesses.
“Mona is valued as a shell, because the business loses, so its value doesn’t vary much,” Mr Walsh said.
“Counting subsidiaries, it won’t always lose, I hope.”
Tech behind museum apps the ‘great white hope’ for big money
Art Processors’ Pladia platform is being offered to other museums and visitor experiences. (Supplied: Pladia)
Mr Walsh believes Mona’s financial upside may lie with its emerging experience design business Art Processors, which developed “The O” digital guide used at the gallery since it opened in 2011, and recently launched a new visitor wayfinding platform called Pladia.
Art Processors has sold Pladia to gallery customers such as Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art and events, including the recent “Confined 16” First Nations exhibition at Melbourne’s Glen Eira City Council Gallery, as well as cultural institutions in the US and elsewhere.
 “The O” digital guide used at the gallery since it opened in 2011. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)
Art Processors has patented a virtual queuing system, which Mr Walsh said he had high hopes for.
“When implemented, [the system] may well obviate the need for queues anywhere,” he said.
“With a bit of luck, someone will acquire it and fund the next round of Mona expansion [and this one, because I have some debt].”
Mr Walsh described Art Processors as his “great white hope”.
A digital wayfaring sign powered by Pladia. (Supplied: Art Processors)
Moorilla Estate moved from 85 per cent to 100 per cent ownership of loss-making Art Processors at the end of 2023-24 — the seller and price were not disclosed — and in the process made last year’s accounts look worse than usual.
Art Processors’ founding principal, Nic Whyte, said the company’s revenue was in the $10 million range, but the business was losing between $1–1.5 million a month until it was restructured in July. It shut down its US business amid arts funding volatility that Mr Whyte said he expected would continue “for some time”.
Mr Walsh argued the costs of developing Art Processors were inflating losses at Mona, but he hoped it would become profitable and may eventually be sold.
“Some of the Mona loss is the technology base, which Art Processors peddles to other institutions,” Mr Walsh said.
“It is taking a lot of money to develop. Hopefully it’s like a mini-Amazon. Loses up front, and then income when it matters.”Chocolate experience, Hobart stadium might bring more visitors, Walsh says
A render of the Cadbury Chocolate Experience, set to be built in Hobart. (Supplied)
One customer for Art Processors is the yet-to-be-built $150 million Cadbury Visitor Experience centre that will be adjacent to Cadbury’s Chocolate Factory at Claremont in Hobart.
The Cumulus-designed tourism operation is ambitiously projecting 550,000 visitors a year.
Developer Simon Currant said his vision was to deliver the world’s best chocolate experience, which was also “purely Tasmanian”.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff and developer Simon Currant. (ABC News)
Mr Currant said Art Processors won a competitive tender, among 20 entrants, to deliver a self-guided visitor experience that was “totally engaging”.
He said Art Processors had huge experience on how to deliver messages to people in the latest creative forms and had travelled to chocolate factories in Japan, including Royce in Hokkaido, with his team to look at delivering an experience to large crowds, “without making people feel like a bunch of ants”.
Mr Walsh was optimistic about the likely impact on Mona visitor numbers of the new chocolate visitor centre, and was open-minded about the potential bump from the proposed new AFL stadium at Macquarie Point.
Mr Walsh said while he was “not sure” about the proposed stadium, “I do know that when there’s a football game in Hobart, we get a huge influx of visitors”.
Mr Walsh says AFL matches in Hobart lead to more visitors at Mona. (Supplied: MPC)
About a decade ago, Mr Walsh had announced his own redevelopment masterplan for the industrial Macquarie Point site that the stadium now supersedes.
Also helping Mona’s financial position has been a shift in the accounting treatment of longstanding intercompany loans from ultimate parent Downward Spiral Enterprises, after an external audit was conducted in 2022-23.
Last year’s Moorilla Estate accounts note a “debt to equity swap” of $47.3 million in loans from DSE, which were extinguished and converted to equity because there was no requirement for repayments.
Has the ‘Mona effect’ waned?
Dark Mofo has helped boost visitor numbers to Tasmania during the cold winter months. (Supplied: MONA/Remi Chauvin)
According to the most recent state visitor figures, Mona was the third-most popular tourist attraction in the state in 2024-25 with 330,000 visitors, behind Hobart’s Salamanca markets and Kunanyi/Mount Wellington.
While visitation has gradually rebounded since COVID, it is still short of the 405,000 visitors Mona reported in 2018-19.
“My gut feel is the Mona effect peaked before COVID,” says independent economist Saul Eslake.
“The people there [at Mona] are nothing if not commercially savvy. They’ve stepped back from some of their festivals, and last year they suspended Dark Mofo. I think they realise they’ve probably pushed it as far as they can.”
Economist Saul Eslake says Mona brought a different category of tourists to Tasmania. (ABC News: Owain Stia James)
“It’s still important. I think Mona has changed the image or face that Tasmania has presented to the world.”
“Prior to Mona we [Tasmania] were in danger of being ‘Jetstar-ised’. The kind of people who go to Mona don’t want to fly Jetstar.”
Mr Eslake said recent investment in new luxury hotels in Hobart — from Crowne Plaza to Hobart’s first Hilton — probably would not have happened without Mona.
Whereas previous visitors to Tasmania had come to see natural attractions, “Mona brought a different category of tourist”, he said.
He said “whatever you think of gambling” Mr Walsh was an “extraordinary character” and Tasmania had been lucky to have his investment, likening him to a philanthropist from the gilded age or “a Tassie version of the Medicis”.
Mona is widely regarded as having changed the image of Tasmania to visitors. (Facebook: MONA)
Mr Walsh hopes the construction cranes will again hang over Mona as he continues to build on his vision and what he wants to leave behind.
“I hope to live long enough to establish, on Mona’s behalf, an endowment, or some income streams that support it,” he said.
“In particular, Mona generates a whole bunch of visitors, but doesn’t keep them long enough. We need a hotel.
“I don’t see Mona as a charity. I hope it’ll be an ideas incubator, that’ll make money.
“I like building stuff,” Mr Walsh says. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)
“So far, the lead time has only been 20 years. I want it to be profitable because I want other, richer, more avaricious people than me to engage in similar social experiments.
“I can’t guarantee Mona’s long-term survival, but I can offer assurances that I intend to support it while I’m alive.
“I know that my wife will continue that support after my demise, if she is able.
“I’m about to open an extension that costs more than the original museum. I wouldn’t be doing that if I wasn’t a true believer.”
Mr Walsh wants Mona to continue on after he is gone. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)
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