The Hon Bill Hayden AC (b. 1933) was Governor-General of Australia from 1989 to 1996 and Leader of the Opposition from 1977 to 1983. After serving in the Queensland Police Force, at the age of 28 Hayden was elected Labor member for the Federal seat of Oxley in 1961, a seat he held until 1988. As a government minister he held a number of senior portfolios including Social Security, where he introduced the single mother's pension and Medibank, the precursor to Medicare. During his career he openly supported marriage equality and voluntary euthanasia. In the late 1990s Hayden joined the board of Quadrant, a literary, cultural and political journal, and wrote opinion pieces for Australian newspapers and magazines. A former atheist, Hayden was baptised in 2018 at the age of 85.
Davida Allen, painter, novelist and filmmaker, painted this double portrait of Hayden and his wife Dallas while he was Governor-General. Allen was given unprecedented access to the couple, and got her inspiration for the portrait as they dressed for an important dinner. Executed in Allen's trademark expressive style, with thickly applied oil paint in brilliant colours, the painting was considered a stand-out of the 1993 Archibald Prize exhibition.
Gift of the artist 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© Davida Allen
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