Bob Sredersas

The collection, which included pieces by artists such as Arthur Streeton, Grace Cossington Smith, Margaret Preston and Norman Lindsay, assisted in establishing the Wollongong Art Gallery.

After his death, details of Sredersas's involvement with the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in Nazi-occupied Lithuania were publicised and have led to questions surrounding his legacy.

[1][6] Documents uncovered after 2018, however, showed Sredersas had been employed by the SD in Kaunas, acquired German citizenship and had lodged an application to join the SS.

"[1] 21st-century research by historian Konrad Kwiet found that Srederas worked as an intelligence officer in the Sicherheitsdienst from June 1941 to January 1945.

[7] Kwiet suspected that Sredersas can be identified as the SS leader from other historical research who participated in the capture and murder of an escaped Jewish prisoner in 1943.

According to Kwiet, Sredersas may have led a Hitler Youth group to a forest to capture the escapee after which the Jewish person was taken to a police station and murdered.

[3] Sredersas sailed to Australia abroad SS Fairsea in 1950 and was temporarily housed in the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre.

[1][5][6] In 1956, Sredersas began his art collecting by purchasing a 1917 watercolor, Herring Fleet at Sea St Ives, by Sydney Long at auction for one guinea.

"[1] Gordon Bradbery, Lord Mayor of Wollongong, noted the concerning nature of the allegations and stated his disconcertment by the lack of action by the council.

[11][12] In April 2022, the council engaged Sydney Jewish Museum to carry out an investigation, led by historian and Holocaust survivor Konrad Kwiet, into Sredersas's association with the Nazi party.