Search / bee miles

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Beatrice (Bee) Miles (1902-1973) ranks alongside the 'Eternity man' as one of Sydney's best-remembered street personalities, and featured in the State Library's 'Sydney Eccentrics' exhibition in 1999.

1 portrait in the collection

Bee Miles, 1976

Roderick Shaw

Gift of Brian Griffin 2000

Fiona Scott-Norman, 2011

by Miles Standish

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2007

Good, bad and the ugly

Michael Desmond explores what makes a portrait subject significant.

Miles and Arkie, 2015

by Clint Peloso

Alex Miller, 1992

Portrait, pencil on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Alexander Miller

Alex Miller (b. 1936), one of Australia’s most decorated and popular authors, migrated from England to Australia on his own as a sixteen-year-old.

3 portraits in the collection

Rodney Hall OAM

Rodney Hall OAM (b. 1935), writer, came to Australia in 1947 and settled in Brisbane.

2 portraits in the collection

Phillip Law AC AO CBE

Phillip Law AC AO CBE (1912–2010), scientist and Antarctic explorer, developed an interest in the frozen continent as a boy.

1 portrait in the collection

Dr Phillip Law, 1974

Dallas Hawes

Gift of Dr Phillip Law 2000. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

David Malouf

David Malouf (b.1934), educated at Brisbane Grammar and the University of Queensland, left Australia at the age of 24 and remained abroad for a decade, teaching in England and travelling throughout Europe.

3 portraits in the collection

Alexis Wright

Alexis Wright (b. 1950), author and activist, won the Miles Franklin Award in 2007 for her novel Carpentaria and the 2018 Stella Prize for her collective memoir Tracker.

1 portrait in the collection

Sarah

Therese Maher

David Malouf, 2012

Commissioned with the assistance of funds provided by the Circle of Friends 2012

Gil Askey, 2011

by Titian Scheffer

Alex Miller, novelist, 2022

Hong Fu

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint, charcoal, pastel and conté on linen

Gift of the artist 2022

Kate Grenville

In their own words

Recorded 2014

Michelle de Kretser, Geography & History

Michelle de Kretser, Geography & History, 2013

Weng-Ho Chong

Gift of Michelle de Kretser 2015. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Tim Winton, 2019

Sally Robinson

Alex Miller, 1992

Portrait, pencil on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Tim Winton, 2019

Sally Robinson

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Purchased with funds provided by the Annual Appeal 2020

Thomas Keneally AO

Thomas Keneally (b.1935), author and republican activist, has achieved a considerable reputation for the breadth and accessibility of his writing, and his passion for causes about which many Australians feel deeply.

1 portrait in the collection

Thea Astley

Thea Astley (1925-2004), novelist, was born in Brisbane and studied arts at the University of Queensland before becoming a teacher.

1 portrait in the collection

Peter Carey AO

Portrait, pencil, pen and ink on paper

Peter Carey (b. 1943) is an author whose novels sweep between the fantastic and the realistic, the comic and the tragic, and the present and the past.

3 portraits in the collection

Bob Croll of the AAA Vic., 1916

David Low

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2008

Dorothy Porter, 2001-2002

Gift of Andrea Goldsmith 2011. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Shorty Jangala Robertson

Shorty Jangala Robertson (c. 1930-2014) a Warlukurlangu artist was from Yuendumu in the Northern Territory.

1 portrait in the collection

Hong Fu

Vox pops

My subject, he is a writer. He is a big name, very famous writer, Alex Miller, age 85.

Thea Astley, 1985 (printed 2006)

Jozef Vissel

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2006

Elizabeth Jolley AO

Elizabeth Jolley AO (1923-2007) was a West Australian writer. Born in England, she worked as a nurse during the war and after migrating to Western Australia in 1959, when she also worked as a cleaner and saleswoman.

1 portrait in the collection

Xavier Herbert

Xavier Herbert (1901 –1984), author, was born Alfred Jackson to a single mother in Geraldton, WA.

2 portraits in the collection

Robert Henderson Croll

Robert Henderson Croll (1869-1947), author, worked as a clerk in the Victorian public service for over 40 years, but is better remembered for his books and journalism.

2 portraits in the collection

Scrapbook page featuring portraits of Fred Lowry and Frank Gardiner

Frederick Lowry

Portrait, modern bromide print on paper from an original negative

Fred Lowry (1836-1863) was a stockman before he turned to cattle and horse duffing.

1 portrait in the collection

Annette Kellerman smiling, c. 1907 (printed 2003)

H. Walter Barnett

Gift of an anonymous donor 2004

All at sea

Devotion

Tiny token, big love

George Johnston, Fleet Street, London, c. 1952 (printed 2000)

David Moore

Frederick George Reynolds

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

Robert Henderson Croll, 1927

Portrait, oil on canvas on board

Gift of Grietje Croll in memory of her late husband Robert Devereaux Croll and with the endorsement of his daughter Helen Croll 2013. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

The Kelly Gang (from The Australasian Sketcher, 17 July 1880)

The Kelly Gang (from The Australasian Sketcher, 17 July 1880), 1880

Tom Carrington, The Australasian Sketcher

Portrait, wood engraving on paper

Purchased 2017

Ruth Park AM

Ruth Park (1917–2010) was born in New Zealand and lived there until 1942.

1 portrait in the collection

Lily Brett OAM

Lily Brett OAM (b. 1946) is a New York-based novelist, essayist and poet.

2 portraits in the collection

Rev. Edward Puckle

The Reverend Edward Puckle (c. 1800-1898), Anglican clergyman, took holy orders in Exeter and officiated in Cornwall before sailing on the Randolph to Canterbury, NZ in 1850.

1 portrait in the collection

William Bligh

The life of William Bligh offers up a handful of the most remarkable episodes in the history of Britain’s eighteenth and early nineteenth-century maritime empire.

Michelle de Kretser

Michelle de Kretser (b. 1957), author, came to Melbourne with her Sinhalese Dutch parents in 1972.

1 portrait in the collection

The Writer, Peter Goldsworthy, 2018

Deidre But-Husaim

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on board

Commissioned with funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AC and Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

Peter Carey in Kelly country, 2000

Bruce Armstrong

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Murray Bail, c. 1980 (printed 2018)

Jacqueline Mitelman

Portrait, inkjet print on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Drusilla Modjeska

Drusilla Modjeska (b. 1946), writer, feminist and academic, was born in England and moved to Australia in 1971 after several years in Papua New Guinea.

1 portrait in the collection

Tim Winton

Tim Winton (b. 1960) is the author of 29 books, with his work translated into 28 languages.

2 portraits in the collection

Max Schubert, 1980

David Simpson

Portrait, inkjet print on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2014

Lily Brett, n.d. (printed 2021)

Jacqueline Mitelman

Purchased with funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AC 2021

Self portrait, 1846

George French Angas

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Purchased 1999

Henry Wade, c. 1841

an unknown artist

Portrait, oil on paperboard

Gift of the Wade and Hannah families 2013

The Australian exploring expedition travelling through scrub (from the Illustrated London News 1879)

The Australian exploring expedition travelling through scrub (from the Illustrated London News 1879), 1876

The Illustrated London News after Jesse Young

Portrait, wood engraving on paper

Purchased 2010

Alfred George Stephens

Portrait, oil on composition board

Alfred George Stephens (1865–1933), editor, journalist and publisher, was born and educated in Toowoomba.

1 portrait in the collection

Murray Bail, c. 1990

Jinx Nolan

Gift of an anonymous donor 2021

Portrait of Elizabeth Jolley, 2003

Mary Moore

Portrait, oil on composition board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2003

Shirley Hazzard

Shirley Hazzard (1931-2016) writer, spent her childhood in Sydney but left with her parents at the age of sixteen for South East Asia and New Zealand.

1 portrait in the collection

Study for The Writer, Peter Goldsworthy, 2018

Deidre But-Husaim

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AC and Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018

Thomas Keneally, 1987

Bernd Heinrich

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2005
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Christos Tsiolkas

Christos Tsiolkas (b. 1965) is a Melbourne-born writer of Greek descent, whose work deals uncompromisingly with sexuality, identity and politics.

2 portraits in the collection

Ernest Giles

Ernest Giles (1835-1897), explorer, came to Australia at the age of fifteen, settling in Adelaide.

1 portrait in the collection

Murray Bail

Murray Bail (b. 1941), writer, was born in Adelaide and spent several years in India and England in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

3 portraits in the collection

Murray Bail, 1980-1981

Fred Williams

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Gift of an anonymous donor 1999. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Gooseberry, widow of King Bungaree, 1836

William Fernyhough

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Dr Robert Edwards AO 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Rose Scott

Rose Scott (1847-1925), feminist and social reformer, devoted much of her life to campaigns that resulted in increased independence for Australian women.

1 portrait in the collection

Dorothy Porter

Dorothy Porter (1954–2008), poet and writer, grew up in Sydney and the Blue Mountains, graduated from the University of Sydney in 1975 and taught creative writing at the University of Technology, Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Louis Nowra

Louis Nowra (b. 1950), writer, grew up in dire family circumstances on a housing commission estate in Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

2012-13 Acquisition Fund

Annual Appeal

The Circle of Friends Acquisition Fund for 2012 was dedicated to purchasing a portrait of David Malouf by Rick Amor.

Henry Searle

Previous exhibition, 2014

Henry Searle (1886–1889), a sculler known as the ‘Clarence River Comet’, took up rowing as a boy as a means of getting himself and his siblings to and from school.

1 portrait in the collection

Rick Amor

21 Portraits

Rick Amor, noblest yet most unaffected of contemporary Australian portraitists, is also a painter of enigmatic, ominous landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes that haunt the viewer like dreams, dimly-recalled.

Study of Louis Nowra, 2018

Imants Tillers

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint and gouache on 64 canvas boards (nos. 108101-108164)

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AC, John Kaldor AO and Naomi Milgrom AO 2018

William Bligh

William Bligh (1754-1817), naval officer, was born in Plymouth and first went to sea at around the age of eight.

3 portraits in the collection

William Bligh, c. 1776

John Webber

Purchased with funds provided by the Liangis family 2015

Johnny Day

‘The Australian Wonder’, Johnny Day (1856–1885), was an undefeated world-champion juvenile walker.

1 portrait in the collection

A G Stephens, c. 1910 (printed later)

an unknown artist

Portrait, albumen photograph carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Master Johnny Day, Australian Champion Pedestrian, c. 1866

an unknown artist

Purchased 2014

Andrew George Scott, alias Captain Moonlite, c.1879 attributed to Charles Nettleton

The Portrait Gallery

Previous exhibition, 2006

Photography played a significant role in the circulation of messages about law and order, and in the creation of sensation and celebrity.

Portraits for Posterity

Drawn from some of the many donations made to the Gallery's collection, the exhibition Portraits for Posterity pays homage both to the remarkable (and varied) group of Australians who are portrayed in the portraits and the generosity of the many donors who have presented them to the Gallery.

Sir Gerard Smith

Sir Gerard Smith (1839-1920), governor, was educated at Eton before purchasing a commission as an ensign and lieutenant in the Scots Fusilier Regiment of Foot Guards, with whom he served in Canada in 1863-1864.

1 portrait in the collection

Peter Goldsworthy AM

Peter Goldsworthy AM (b. 1951), medical doctor and writer, was born in Minlaton, South Australia, and grew up in various country towns as his father, a school teacher, moved for work.

2 portraits in the collection

Max Schubert

Max Schubert AM (1915–1994) was born in the Barossa Valley to German parents who were devoutly religious and spoke German at home.

1 portrait in the collection

Ethel Marian (Maie) Casey AC

Portrait, inkjet print on paper

Ethel Marian (Maie) Casey AC, Baroness Casey (1892-1983), chatelaine, artist, pilot and author, was born in Melbourne, the daughter of the Surgeon General, Sir Charles Ryan.

1 portrait in the collection

Xavier Herbert, early 1980s (printed 2018)

Jacqueline Mitelman

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Prison photograph of Ned Kelly c.1873, image courtesy National Museum of Australia.

The outlaws coolly disported themselves

Ned Kelly & co at Euroa, 9 and 10 December 1878

'Each man arrayed himself in a new rig from head to foot, and even such luxuries as soaps and perfumery were not despised'

Gillian Armstrong, 1985

Stuart Campbell

Portrait, stipple engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Stuart Campbell 2012

Admiral Bligh, 1801

John Chapman

Purchased 2010

Georg von Neumayer, c. 1860

Johnstone & Co

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Thomas Pearce, c. 1878

The Photographic Society of Victoria, Melbourne

Portrait, albumen paper carte de visite on card

Purchased 2010

2020 Annual Appeal

Annual Appeal

In 2020 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Sally Robinson's remarkable portrait of author Tim Winton.

Australians in Hollywood

Previous exhibition, 2003

Although perceived to be a recent phenomenon, the 'Aussie invasion' of Hollywood can actually be traced as far back as the early 1900s

Intense identity

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2009

Dr Chistopher Chapman discusses the portrait of Australian author Christos Tsiolkas taken by John Tsiavis.

Trumble and Borthwick families (Mum front right, Angus smallest), ca. 1968

Humdinger

Captain Moonlite et al on trial for murder

At a meeting by teleconference of the National Portrait Gallery Foundation last week, I found myself reporting that our forthcoming exhibition So Fine is going to be “a humdinger,” whereupon Tim Fairfax chuckled and said that he hadn’t heard that expression for years.

Diseased curiosity

Archived media releases 2015

Just after 10.00 o'clock on 3 December 1879, four prisoners were brought from their cells at Darlinghurst Gaol and placed in the dock of a courtroom heaving with agitated spectators

Welcome home, Captain Bligh

27 March 2015

The National Portrait Gallery will, next Tuesday, unveil an exciting new acquisition of irrefutable importance to all Australians. Portrait of William Bligh, in master’s uniform c. 1776, attributed to John Webber, is one of the earliest portraits of the contentious, historical figure, and extends the Gallery’s remarkable collection of early colonial portraits.

Open Air

Portraits in the Landscape

Previous exhibition, 2008

Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them.

Clifton Pugh

Australians

Previous exhibition, 2005

This exhibition offers a comprehensive display of Clifton Pugh's portraits revealing his development and growth from tonal paintings to a unique style that was in demand from politicians, artists, academics and Australian personalities.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022

Previous exhibition, 2022

The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

The Mutineers turning Lieut Bligh and part of the Officers and Crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship the Bounty

The Mutineers turning Lieut Bligh and part of the Officers and Crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship the Bounty, 1790

Robert Dodd

Portrait, aquatint engraving on paper

Purchased with funds provided by the Ian Potter Foundation 2008

Old Blighty

Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2016

Angus Trumble ponders the many faces of William Bligh.

Angkor Wat

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2011

Nothing quite prepares the first-time visitor to Cambodia for the scale and grandeur of the monuments of the ancient Khmer civilisation of Angkor.

Beautiful bones

Sarah Engledow reflects on the shared life and writing of Dorothy Porter and Andrea Goldsmith.

First Ladies

Significant Australian Women 1913–2013

Previous exhibition, 2013

First Ladies profiles women who have achieved noteworthy firsts over the past 100 years.

Sideshow Alley

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

Previous exhibition, 2015

Death masks, post-mortem drawings and other spooky and disquieting portraits... Come and see how portraits of infamous Australians were used in the 19th century.

Study of Louis Nowra, 2018

by Imants Tillers

Five Years of National Portrait Gallery Commissions

Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Bednall, Jillian Broadbent AO, John Kaldor AO and Naomi Milgrom AO 2018

Making Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2004

The considered matching of artist to subject has produced an amazing collection of unique and original works in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery

The Writer: Peter Goldsworthy, 2018

by Deidre But-Husaim

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Commissioned with funds provided by Jillian Broadbent AO and Dr Helen Nugent AO 2018.

Uncommon Australians

Previous exhibition, 2015

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.

Australian Visit

Previous exhibition, 2006

The exhibition will include works of art from the NPG Canberra's permanent collection with some inward loans and aims to highlight the achievements of notable Australians.

Time and light

In Gallery Seven

Previous exhibition, 2023

This sample of 56 photographs takes in some of the smallest photographs we own and some of the largest, some of the earliest and some of the most recent, as well as multiple photographic processes from daguerreotypes to digital media.

Tracks in the sand

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008

Dr Sarah Engledow discusses Quentin Jones's photograph of Australian author Tim Winton.

Desert Island Discs

Magazine article by Djon Mundine OAM, 2017

I agonized over the choice of four songs to take with me to the ABC Studios for Alex Sloan’s Canberra 666 afternoon program, a sort of iteration of the old BBC Desert Island Discs.

Big shots

Djon Mundine OAM brings poignant memory and context to Martin van der Wal’s 1986 portrait photographs of storied Aboriginal artists.

Giving and getting

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2006

The exhibition Portraits for Posterity celebrates gifts to the Gallery, of purchases made with donated funds, and testifies to the generosity and community spirit of Australians.

Little John of Colchester, a poor lunatic, c.1823 by John Dempsey

Dempsey's people

Magazine article by Michelle Fracaro, 2004

Those of you who are active in social media circles may be aware that through the past week I have unleashed a blitz on Facebook and Instagram in connection with our new winter exhibition Dempsey’s People: A Folio of British Street Portraits, 1824−1844.

Bloodlines

Michelle Fracaro describes Lionel Lindsay's woodcut The Jester (self-portrait).

Anangu landscape learning

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

Angus' initial perception of Uluru shifts, as he comes to see it as central to the entire order of Anangu life.

Cachasunghia, Osage Warrior 1804–06 by Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin

Political profiles

Joanna Gilmour examines the prolific output of Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin, and discovers the risk of taking a portrait at face value.

Of jumpers and river gums, red

Magazine article by Diana O'Neil, 2016

Diana O’Neil on Noel Counihan’s vivid 1971 portrait of Alan Marshall.

Be bold

Magazine article by Katherine Russell, 2007

The name of Florence Broadhurst, one of Australia’s most significant wallpaper and textile designers, is now firmly cemented in the canon of Australian art and design.

Studio of the American & Australasian Photographic Co., Hill End, 1872

A rogue's calling card

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008

Joanna Gilmour explores the stories behind the ninteenth-century carte de visites of bushrangers Frank Gardiner and Fred Lowry.

In the galleries

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2009

Christopher Chapman highlights the inaugural hang of the new National Portrait Gallery building which opened in December 2008.

The Multifarious Career of George Selth Coppin

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2004

George Selth Coppin (1819-1906) comedian, impresario and entrepreneur, was a driving force of the early Australian theatre.

Christmas Island

Magazine article by Robert Cook, 2018

This is my last Trumbology before, in a little more than a week from now, I pass to my successor Karen Quinlan the precious baton of the Directorship of the National Portrait Gallery.

Snap decisions

NPPP judge Robert Cook provides irreverent insight into this year’s fare, and having to be a bit judgemental.

Forest Creek, Mount Alexander Diggings, 1852 by S. T. Gill

The Rothschilds, the Montefiores, and the Victorian Gold Rush

Magazine article by Jennifer Higgie, 2022

Some years ago my colleague Andrea Wolk Rager and I spent several days in the darkened basement of a Rothschild Bank, inspecting every one of the nearly 700 autochromes created immediately before World War I by the youthful Lionel de Rothschild.

Women make history

Jennifer Higgie uncovers the intriguing stories behind portraits of women by women in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.

Staying home

True south #2

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

Joanna Gilmour brings a mindful Douglas Mawson’s perspective to bear on the concept of isolation.

Home truths

Despite once expressing a limited interest in the self portrait, the idea of it has figured strongly in much of Tracey Moffatt's work and has done so in some of her most distinctive and compelling images.

Out of the shadows

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

Joanna Gilmour profiles the life and times of the shutter sisters May and Mina Moore.

Starry knight

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Aircraft designer, pilot and entrepreneur, Sir Lawrence Wackett rejoins friends and colleagues on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery.

Lucy Culliton

Explore The Popular Pet Show

Most well-regarded pictures of chickens show them dead. A reliable way to tell if a chicken in a painting is dead is to check if it’s hanging upside down, because unlike, say, cockatoos, chickens don’t practise inversion for enjoyment in life.

Patrick White at Centennial Park, 1979–1980

Listomania

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2013

Sarah Engledow describes the fall-out once Brett Whiteley stuck Patrick White’s list of his loves and hates onto his great portrait of the writer.

A sketch for some portraits

Magazine article by Judith Pugh, 2005

Judith Pugh reflects on Clifton Pugh's approach to portrait making.

Little women

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2019

Joanna Gilmour looks beyond the ivory face of select portrait miniatures to reveal their sitters’ true grit.

Thrown together

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

Shipmates for years, James Cook and Joseph Banks each kept a journal but neither man shed light on their relationship.

The shipwright's arms

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2013

Joanna Gilmour explores the life and times of convict-turned-artist William Buelow Gould.

Less than six degrees of separation

Lecture, 28 May 2011