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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Moustaches

Magnificent moustaches, bold beards and masterful muttonchops, it's all here in Jo's Mo Show.

The Dipper
The Dipper
The Dipper
The Dipper

The Dipper

One of the versions of thick, macho moustache strongly associated in the Australian visual lexicon with sportsmen of the 1970s and 80s.
The Lawson
The Lawson
The Lawson
The Lawson

The Lawson

It’s curious that one of the writers most associated with the toughness of Australian bush life was himself not an exponent of the matted, rugged bushman sort of beard.
The Murdoch
The Murdoch
The Murdoch
The Murdoch

The Murdoch

Sport was a potent means by which, in the lead up to Federation, Australians began to assert a sense of themselves as youthful, manly and athletic – the products of an equally young and virile new nation.
The Greenwood
The Greenwood
The Greenwood
The Greenwood

The Greenwood

Like the Barkly or the Hooker, the Greenwood is an eccentric facial hair mode that seems to have largely avoided being repurposed in contemporary times.
The Tangles
The Tangles
The Tangles
The Tangles

The Tangles

According to an 1981 Australian Women’s Weekly profile of fast bowler Dennis Lillee, a moustache was a ‘compulsory’ accessory for sportsmen.
The Darling
The Darling
The Darling
The Darling

The Darling

Beards were generally been out for British military men in the 1800s: civilians might have worn them as badges of masculinity, but in the army they were perhaps a bit too close to indiscipline for comfort.
The Demon
The Demon
The Demon
The Demon

The Demon

Being hirsute was the go in the 1850s, 60s and 70s; but around about the 1880s the beard began to wane.
The Barassi
The Barassi
The Barassi
The Barassi

The Barassi

Otherwise known as the ‘Pool Cleaner’ or the ‘Porn Star’ moustache.
The Hoff
The Hoff
The Hoff
The Hoff

The Hoff

The image of a hairy swag-wielding bushman might be one popularly associated with Australia in the late nineteenth century.
The Flynn
The Flynn
The Flynn
The Flynn

The Flynn

A handsome devil of a mo; sleek; natty; perfectly manicured; alternately rakish and debonair, wicked and agreeable.
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Jo's mo show

(with beards)

Exhibition closes 1 April

This exhibition illustrates changes in beards, moustaches and sideburns from the 1780s to the 1980s.

Related information

Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson

Jo's mo show

(with beards)

Previous exhibition, 2011

This exhibition illustrates changes in beards, moustaches and sideburns from the 1780s to the 1980s.
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The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance
The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance
The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance

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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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