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.
This might explain why early exemplars of Australian cricketing prowess went to the crease with what seems to have been de rigueur for urbane-yet-sporting chaps: a wide, waxed, dapper ‘tache, perky at the tips and parted at the centre.
This exhibition illustrates changes in beards, moustaches and sideburns from the 1780s to the 1980s.
Explore portraiture and come face to face with Australian identity, history, culture, creativity and diversity.
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