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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.

Search / robert burke

General information

Julia Matthews

Of Burke, Wills ... and wills

It's Complicated

Infatuation and (ill-fated) exploration

The Burke

The Burke

A big daddy of a beard; long; bushy; rugged, but not unkempt; typically found on the faces of explorers or bushrangers.

The Lyster

The Lyster

A strong, silent type of beard; bushy and manly, but also shaped and contained, a restrained version of a Burke or a Parkes.

The Brougham

Beards

The Burke, The Parkes, The Lambert...

The Brougham

The Brougham

A philosopher-style of beard – thick and lengthy; a greyer, hence wiser version of the Burke; and suited to older men who saw themselves as sagacious or statesmanlike.

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New appointments to the National Portrait Gallery Board

5 November 2024

Archived media releases 2024

Minster for the Arts, The Hon. Tony Burke MP has today announced new appointments to the National Portrait Gallery Board, including Ms Sam Meers AO, who will succeed Mrs Penny Fowler AM as Chair in March 2025.

Robert, Lindy, Grant

Immediately, there was a crackle

It's Complicated

A meeting of minds

Robert H. Black MD

The artist and the doctor

Art, war, scandal

Robert Klippel

Hearts and craft

The long game

Who's Jo?

General content

Find out about the curator of the exhibition.

Sammy Dodd

2022 Annual Appeal

In 2022 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Mayatjara by Robert Fielding, a series of 24 photographs of Elders of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara community.

Joan Sutherland

All the world's a stage

General content

Joan Sutherland, Robert Helpmann and Raigh Roe

Paul Kelly, 1992 by Wendy McDougall

Paul Kelly and The Portraits media information

Archived media releases 2013

Paul Kelly & The Portraits presents a multifaceted image of the performer over the course of his career.

Spencer 2016, by Warwick Baker

Tough & Tender Media Release

Archived media releases 2016

Photographs from internationally acclaimed artists Robert Mapplethorpe, Larry Clark, Nan Goldin, Collier Schorr and Chris Burden along with contemporary Australian artists, Rozalind Drummond and Warwick Baker will call the National Portrait Gallery home during our extraordinary winter exhibition Tough and Tender.

Thomas Woolner

The 1850s to the 1880s

Mo and beard timeline

The restrained and cultivated facial hair fashions evident through the first decades of the 1800s were on the wane by the middle of the century, when hirsute faces became mainstream.

John and Lottie’s wedding, early 1970s Unknown artist

Shifting the definition

Nearest & Dearest

Defiant commitment

© National Portrait Gallery 2025
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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