The discovery of a cache of long-lost works by William Robinson was a surprise. It was, in the art world, the equivalent of the unearthing of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

But instead of finding them in a desert cave they were discovered in a drawer by the artist’s daughter, Kate. The works – in oil, pastel and watercolor- depict bayside scenes and were painted when the Robinsons lived at Birkdale not far from the shores of Moreton Bay.

They form the bulk of the exhibition William Robinson – Moreton Bay, now showing at Philip Bacon Galleries in Fortitude Valley.

Robinson, 87, is regarded by many as Australia’s greatest living artist. He is revered in artistic circles but also by the general public who love his works … everything from magisterial and mystical landscapes to jolly farmyard paintings reflecting his years of rural living.

He was, he reflects, never much of a farmer. But still there are goats and chickens and dogs and horses in some of his entertaining farmyard paintings. He is also a master portrait artist who won the coveted Archibald Prize twice – the first time in 1987 with Equestrian Self-Portrait and then in 1995 with Self-Portrait with Stunned Mullet. Both take the mickey out of himself and the art world, to a degree.

Robinson is the only Australian artist to have a museum dedicated to him while still alive – The William Robinson Gallery at Old Government House in the grounds of the QUT Gardens Point campus. His work is perpetually exhibited there and next month it will feature a new show – The Painter and the Printmaker which opens September 5.

For now, though, we have some new works, watercolours and drawings of bayside scenes and 31 of his long lost but recently discovered Moreton Bay pieces, mostly from the late 1970s.

Robinson says he owes a debt of gratitude to his late wife Shirley who was meticulous in archiving his work and looking after it while he concentrated on teaching (which he did until his mid-50s) and painting.

Shirley Robinson had put the Moreton Bay works away carefully, so carefully that he didn’t even know they were there.

“It was an absolute surprise to me,” Robinson says. “My daughter Kate found them in a drawer, they were in perfect condition, some on canvas, others on paper which can deteriorate over time.”

But Shirley Robinson has wrapped them carefully and they are like a gift from the past.

Luckily, they survived a purge of his work that Robinson undertook when the family moved to Beechmont for a time in the Gold Coast Hinterland. Living in the mountains got Robinson close to the landscape that was to become the subject for some of his most loved works, particularly his Creation series focusing on the mountains and forests of the border ranges.

“When we moved to Beechmont I went through everything,” he recalls. “We didn’t have a lot of room. I was quite disconnected from the art world in those days and I wanted to get rid of some work and I just destroyed some of it, burnt it.

“That’s why I’m so amazed these Moreton Bay works survived. I advise artists not to have a burn up though like I did. Put things away, wrap them up and they can be found years later.”

As indeed the works in the current exhibition were thanks to his beloved wife who died early last year. She was his partner in life and art and he says she is still his companion as he paints, plays his beloved Steinway piano and marvels over Shirley’s foresight in keeping the works in his current exhibition.

In a catalogue essay he backgrounds the work with recollections of his recreational visits to the bayside areas starting with boyhood jaunts.

“I have memories of catching a train to the Cleveland Jetty when I was quite a young lad, possibly only 10.” he writes. “We would walk about a mile to the jetty to fish. I would be fascinated by people fishing and congregating in groups and so, to me, Moreton Bay was a subject which always portrayed people enjoying all sorts of recreational activities.”

He describes the oil paintings in the show as “painted quite thinly on the canvas”.

“There is a freshness about them almost like a sketch.”

In A day at the beach, painted in 1972 (the earliest work) shows people frolicking on the shore while jaunty sailboats ply the waters nearby. The watercolors are charming and quite beautiful.

Late afternoon, from Manly is a gorgeously rich seascape by a master artist in the making. Although in those days he was virtually unknown which he did not mind at all.

His more recent watercolors are of people enjoying the seaside locale and they are charming. Windy fish and chips, another recent piece, shows a seated group buffeted by the wind while they much on the goodies they have purchased nearby.

There is a sense of fun in these more recent works while the earlier ones are magical, beautiful and revelatory. And though one piece has a price tag of $160,000 (which you’d expect for a Robinson) others are more affordable which is a boon for collectors or would-be collectors with some of the works on paper selling for as little as just a touch over $2000.

But buying may not be the point for some people. This is a museum class show in many ways, a window to a lost world when the artist was still making his way, teaching and painting and bringing up a family with wife Shirley.

With that in mind there’s a poignancy in this exhibition which is a tribute to Shirley as much as to the subject matter of the works. Because if she hadn’t carefully stashed them away in that drawer there wouldn’t be an exhibition at all.

William Robinson – Moreton Bay is on at Philip Bacon Galleries, 2 Arthur Street, Fortitude Valley until, September 9