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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.

The Gallery’s Acknowledgement of Country, and information on culturally sensitive and restricted content and the use of historic language in the collection can be found here.

Sir George Fisher

n.d.
Louis Kahan AO

pen and ink on paper (sheet: 57.0 cm x 38.1 cm)

Sir George Fisher CMG (1903-2007), mining industry executive, began work at the Zinc Corporation at Broken Hill in 1925 after having completed a mining engineering degree in Adelaide. Apart from a period in Darwin during the war, he spent many years on the Zinc Corporation production line before rising to the surface as the company's General Manager and Director in 1945. By 1952 he was a leading figure in Australian mining and moved to Mount Isa to head Mount Isa Mines Ltd. During his period as Chairman of MIM up to 1975, output increased from 1500 to 18000 tonnes per day, and he was delighted to see Mount Isa turn from a town into an orderly inland city (a colleague said of Fisher in 1959 that 'he thinks and dreams Mt Isa'). Fisher was one of the founders of the Australian Mining Industry Council (now the Minerals Council of Australia), serving as its inaugural President in 1967, the year in which his knighthood was conferred. He was President of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy three times; he was a Director of the Australian Industry Development Corporation; and he was Chancellor of James Cook University from 1971. A rich lead silver deposit at Mount Isa is named in his honour, and an annual mining lecture bears his name. Retiring with copious honours, he claimed that 'My happiest times are when I am underground . . . There's nothing I like better than to see some good ore.'

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Mrs Lily Kahan 2006
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
© Louis Kahan/Copyright Agency, 2024

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Subject professions

Business, trades and industry

Donated by

Lily Kahan (52 portraits)

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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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.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency