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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.

Laurie Carmichael

1981 (printed 2018)
Gary Ede

inkjet print on paper (sheet: 42.9 cm x 29.5 cm, image: 39.0 cm x 25.6 cm)

Laurie Carmichael (1925-2018), union leader, left school at 14 to take up a fitting and turning apprenticeship, and after service in the RAF joined the Amalgamated Engineering Union. By 1958 he had risen through the ranks from shop steward to Victorian state secretary; in 1972 he became assistant national secretary of the Amalgamated Metalworkers’ Union, which prefigured the AMWU. As assistant secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) he was a key figure in the Australian Council of Trade Unions Accord of 1983, which cemented the relationship between the unions and the Labor Party and was re-negotiated six more times by October 1991. Giving up his position in the amalgamated metal workers’ union in 1984, Carmichael became assistant secretary of the ACTU in 1987 and that year was the principal author of its manifesto Australia Reconstructed. By the late 1980s business groups and neoliberalists in the Coalition had become uneasy and vocal about the influence of the ACTU; at the same time, Carmichael and the metalworkers became increasingly concerned about the Accord’s focus on money rather than the social contract and industry policy. An early adopter of computer technology, he retired from the ACTU in 1991 to focus on advising government on vocational education into the future.

Purchased 2018
© Gary Ede

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.

Artist and subject

Gary Ede (age 35 in 1981)

Laurie Carmichael (age 56 in 1981)

Supported by

Wayne Williams (30 portraits supported)

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ABN: 54 74 277 1196

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