A rare collection of Aboriginal art has been unearthed in a cupboard at a college in Canberra.

The National Gallery and the National Museum have confirmed the paintings are part of an Arnhem Land collection; some are by well-known Indigenous artists.

Dickson College principal Beth Mitchell says the paintings are a legacy of the school’s Aboriginal studies classes.

“Dickson College in the ’70s and ’80s was the only college that had Aboriginal studies as a major,” she said.

“They travelled up there (to Arnhem Land) and recognised the significance of these paintings and bought paintings at a time when nobody else was doing this.”