Brief history
A brief history of the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
The idea for a National Portrait Gallery of Australia was first raised in the early years of the 20th Century by the leading painter Tom Roberts. Roberts was keen that the political and judicial figures responsible for the first federated governments be recorded in portraits. Ultimately this idea lead to the formation of the official portraiture program of the Historic Memorials Committee. Several decades later, very preliminary plans for a National Gallery of Australia suggested that a part of it be devoted to a National Portrait Gallery.
However, it was not until Gordon and Marilyn Darling’s initiative in launching the exhibition Uncommon Australians; Towards an Australian Portrait Gallery in 1992 that the value of the idea of a National Portrait Gallery was given practical demonstration.
Uncommon Australians was shown in Canberra and subsequently toured to the state galleries of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. As expressed in the exhibition’s title, the convenors intended the exhibition to show ‘a sample of what a National Portrait Gallery would do for Australia.’ The introduction to the catalogue of Uncommon Australians calculated that: An Australian Portrait Gallery today would probably open with between four and five hundred portraits of prominent Australians.
In 1993 the then Government announced that funds would be provided to support the establishment of a National Portrait Gallery in Old Parliament House to be managed by the National Library of Australia. A year later the Gallery launched its first exhibition About Face; Aspects of Australian Portraiture c.1770-1993. This was the first of a series of exhibitions mounted in a gallery space in the former National Party Rooms.
Until 1997 the National Portrait Gallery continued to be designated as a Program of the National Library of Australia with a committee advising the Library on the exhibition program. Under this arrangement there was no Board or Gallery Director; neither was there a brief to establish a portrait collection independent of the National Library’s collection policy.
In 1997 the Coalition Government announced major changes reflecting its support and aspirations for an enhanced Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery would become independent of the National Library and under the umbrella of the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, the Gallery’s future development and activities would be guided by a Board appointed by the Minister for the Arts. The Government further announced that $1.7m would be allocated to the refurbishment of the former Parliamentary Library space and two adjacent rooms to house the Gallery within Old Parliament House.
The Board of the National Portrait Gallery, under the chairmanship of Dr Robert Edwards, met for the first time in March 1998 and immediately resolved to build a collection of portraits. The inaugural Director, Andrew Sayers was appointed in April 1998.
In March 1999 the refurbished spaces were opened with an historical display consisting chiefly of borrowed works and an exhibition entitled The Possibilities of Portraiture.
Since then the Gallery’s collection has developed in accordance with the Board's rigorous collection development policy highlighted by a series of very significant gifts of portraits.
A major acquisition was made in July 2000 when the Commonwealth purchased John Webber’s 1782 portrait of Captain Cook with the assistance of private benefactors Robert Oatley and John Schaeffer.
In August 2001 the National Portrait Gallery launched its membership program, the Circle of Friends which rapidly developed a community of membership for the Gallery. Under the auspices of the Friends the National Portrait Gallery publishes an award-winning quarterly magazine PORTRAIT. This magazine adds to the Gallery’s on-line presence in promoting the activities of the Gallery and expanding on its areas of interest.
In November 2002 the National Portrait Gallery occupied an annex display space within Commonwealth Place , close to Lake Burley Griffin. This space is leased from the National Capital Authority and supplements the galleries within Old Parliament House, with a focus on contemporary exhibitions.
The additional display space in Commonwealth Place was a temporary solution to the increasingly pressing problem of the Gallery’s space limitations in Old Parliament House. During 2003 the Board of the National Portrait Gallery began to examine the future options for the expansion of the Gallery and found that a dedicated building was the only practical way forward. In November 2004 the Government committed to fund a dedicated building for the National Portrait Gallery if re-elected. Funding of the National Portrait Gallery was provided in the 2005 Federal Budget.
Click here to follow the building project as the National Portrait Gallery moves into a new phase of its development.
