Deborah Vernon Hackett (née Drake-Brockman, 1887–1965), was a mining company director and welfare worker. She grew up in Western Australia, where in 1905, aged 17, she married 58-year-old John Winthrop Hackett, newspaper proprietor and legislative councillor. Together they had five notable children. By 1916, the year she was first widowed, Lady Hackett had produced a copious manual of home hints. In 1918 she married Frank Moulden, who was made Mayor of Adelaide a few years later. As Lady Mayoress, she raised enormous sums for Adelaide’s charities. Over the course of the 1920s Lady Moulden became convinced of the potential of a rare mineral, tantalite, found in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. After visiting sites in the outback, she formulated export plans, and pressed the merits of Australian tantalite on visits to the USA and England. In 1936, by which time she had been awarded an honorary doctorate, she married again; henceforth known as Dr Buller Murphy, she lived in Victoria, and worked vigorously on behalf of various good causes, notably British war orphans.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2005
Marilyn Darling AC (30 portraits supported)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
This exhibition showcases portraits acquired through the generosity of the National Portrait Gallery’s Founding Patrons, L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC.
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