Search / les murray

Leslie Allan ‘Les’ Murray AO (1938-2019) was acknowledged during his lifetime as one of the great poets writing in English.

4 portraits in the collection

Alec Murray

Alec Murray was a photographer whose Alec Murray's Album: Personalities of Australia was published by Sydney Ure Smith in about 1948.

1 portrait in the collection

Neil Murray

Neil Murray (b. 1956), singer/songwriter, grew up in country Victoria, studied art and became a teacher.

2 portraits in the collection

Murray Godfrey

Mervyn Godfrey OAM (1924-2013), Dean Godfrey (b. 1970), David Godfrey (b.

1 portrait in the collection

Murray Tyrrell AM

Murray Tyrrell AM (1921-2000) was a winemaker. Born in the Hunter Valley, Tyrrell served in the Pacific during World War II and became a cattle trader when he was repatriated.

1 portrait in the collection

Murray Bail

Portrait, bromide fibre print

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

Gift of the artist 2001

Les Murray, 2003

Norman McBeath

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Norman McBeath 2011

Les Murray, 1995

David Naseby

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Stephen Murray-Smith

Stephen Murray-Smith (1922-1988), writer and editor, was educated at Geelong Grammar and the University of Melbourne before serving in New Guinea during World War 2.

1 portrait in the collection

Murray Tyrrell, 1978 (printed 2003)

Jon Lewis

Portrait, charcoal on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2003

Stephen Murray-Smith

In their own words

Recorded 1961

Study for portrait of Les Murray, 1995

David Naseby

Gift of the artist 2001

Neil Murray, Bolac, VIC, 2004

John Elliott

Portrait, oil on composition board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Murray Bail, c. 1990

Jinx Nolan

Gift of an anonymous donor 2021

Murray Bail, c. 1980 (printed 2018)

Jacqueline Mitelman

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Murray Rose, 1956

an unknown artist

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Murray Bail, 1980-1981

Fred Williams

Portrait, pastel and watercolour on paper

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

Neil Murray, 2008

Peter Hudson

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

The Merioola Group, 1940s

Alec Murray

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Stephen Murray-Smith, 1980

Fred Williams

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Lyn Williams AM 2011
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Professor Gilbert Murray, OM, Oxford, c. 1957 (printed 2000)

David Moore

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2011

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
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.

True fella

Michael Desmond profiles the Australian songwriter and performer Neil Murray and his contribution to Australian music.

Poets' Portraits

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2005

The Portrait Gallery's paintings of two poets, Les Murray and Peter Porter, demonstrate two very different artists' responses to the challenge of representing more than usually sensitive and imaginative men.

Lt. Genrl. the Rt Honble. Sir George Murray G.C.B., G.C.H. &c.

Lt. Genrl. the Rt Honble. Sir George Murray G.C.B., G.C.H. &c., 1838

John Cochran after Sir Thomas Lawrence

Portrait, engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2018

Murray Rose, Jon Henricks and John Devitt

Murray Rose, Jon Henricks and John Devitt, 1955

Ern McQuillan OAM

Murray Fredericks, Lisa Giles

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2004

Matt Moran, 2004

an unknown artist after Thomas Murray

Gift of the artists 2005

William Dampier, c. 1780

Portrait, copper-line engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

Mabel Forrest, 1917

Murray Studio (Brisbane & Gympie)

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2011

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

Painting mates

Michael Desmond discusses Fred Williams' portraits of friends, artist Clifton Pugh, David Aspden and writer Stephen Murray-Smith, and the stylistic connections between his portraits and landscapes.

Painting writing

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

Dr Sarah Engledow explores the portraits of writers held in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

The Godfrey family of Melways guides, 2009

Francis Reiss, June Orford, Tim Ainsworth

Archibald McDonald, Henry Samuel Sadd

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

The Catholic Hierarchy of Australia, 1869

Portrait, albumen photograph on carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Shane Maloney

Previous exhibition, 2024

Shane Maloney (b. 1953) is the creator of the popular 'Murray Whelan' series of six crime novels, beginning with Stiff (1994) and The Brush-Off (1996) and currently ending at Sucked In (2007).

1 portrait in the collection

Some Lads

In Gallery Four

Tracey’s Moffat’s complete Some Lads series powerfully and playfully depicts Russell Page, Larrakia man Gary Lang, Muruwari man Matthew Doyle, and Graham Blanco, a descendant of the Mer (Murray Island) people.

Portrait 16

June - August 2005

Magazine

This issue of Portrait Magazine features portraits by Rick Amor, colonial charicatures, Les Murray, Peter Porter, Helen Garner and more.

Portrait 39

March - May 2011

Magazine

This issue features the National Photographic Portrait Prize, Neil Murray, Lee Tulloch on Stuart Campbell, Joseph Banks, Scott Redford and more.

Bob Ellis

Bob Ellis (1942-2016) was a journalist, columnist, screenwriter, film director and playwright.

3 portraits in the collection

Warumpi Band

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on cabinet card

The Warumpi Band burst onto the Australian music scene in 1984 with the release of their first album Big Name, No Blankets.

2 portraits in the collection

Sir John Hay, 1887

Freeman Brothers

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Riverboat Rod & Ruby

James Bugg

Warumpi Band, Sydney Opera House, 1984 (printed 2021)

Juno Gemes

Purchased 2021

Some lads #2, 1986 (printed c. 2000)

Tracey Moffatt

Purchased with funds provided by the Annual Appeal 2024

Joel, Mitchell Queensland, 2014

by Matthew Abbott

Sir John Hay

Sir John Hay (1816-1892), pastoralist and politician, graduated in law in his native Scotland before emigrating to New South Wales with his new wife, Mary, in 1838.

1 portrait in the collection

Redfern, I love you - Alan, 2012

by Ben Lawrence

Mervyn Godfrey OAM

Mervyn Godfrey OAM (1924-2013), Dean Godfrey (b. 1970), David Godfrey (b.

2 portraits in the collection

Dean Godfrey

Mervyn Godfrey OAM (1924-2013), Dean Godfrey (b. 1970), David Godfrey (b.

1 portrait in the collection

David Godfrey

Mervyn Godfrey OAM (1924-2013), Dean Godfrey (b. 1970), David Godfrey (b.

1 portrait in the collection

Currents, 2016

by Natalie Ord

Anthony Browell

Anthony Browell, photographer, was born in England and studied at the Brighton Art College and the Ealing Art School before becoming a freelance photographer.

9 portraits in the collection

Bruce Dawe

Bruce Dawe AO (1930-2020), poet and teacher, was born in Fitzroy and worked as a labourer, clerk, sawmill hand, farmhand and postman before joining the RAAF in 1959.

1 portrait in the collection

Bob Maza

Bob Maza (1939-2000), actor, playwright and activist, was born on Palm Island in North Queensland.

1 portrait in the collection

Eddie Mabo

Koiki (Eddie) Mabo (1937-1992) was born and lived in the Torres Strait until 1959 when he moved to the mainland.

1 portrait in the collection

Fred Williams

Fred Williams OBE, painter and etcher, was one of the most important Australian artists of the twentieth century.

14 portraits in the collection

Sir Kenneth Gillespie

Sir Kenneth Gillespie (1929–2010), dancer, teacher and founder of the Tasmanian Ballet, left his native Launceston at age sixteen to join the Borovansky Ballet in Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

Sydney Ancher, c. 1962

Max Dupain OBE

Gift of Rex Dupain 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Sydney Ancher

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Sydney Ancher (1904-1980), architect, graduated from Sydney Tech College in 1930.

1 portrait in the collection

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior of N.S.W.

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior of N.S.W., 1836

William Fernyhough

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

George Rrurrambu Burarrwanga

George Rrurrambu Burarrwanga (1957–2007) was a Yolngu singer, activist and a founding member of the Warumpi Band.

2 portraits in the collection

Peter Hudson

Peter Hudson (b. 1950), is a landscape and portrait painter who lives and works in Maleny, Queensland.

5 portraits in the collection

Dame Roma Mitchell, 1998

Jessica Hromas

Pamela Joyce, Australian Tapestry Workshop

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Hammond Care Group 1999

Narelle Autio

In their own words

Recorded 2018

The Honourable Margaret Lusink AM, 2019

Portrait, wool and cotton tapestry

Gift of The Honourable Margaret Lusink AM 2021

Self portrait, 1846

George French Angas

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Purchased 1999

Hélène Kirsova in Petrouchka, 1936-1937

Max Dupain OBE

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Rex Dupain 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

The crime writer Shane Maloney, 2004

Rick Amor

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Jack Charles, 2011

Rod McNicol

Purchased 2013

2024 Annual Appeal

Annual Appeal

In 1998, acclaimed artist Tracey Moffatt gifted her portrait Some Lads #1 (Russell Page) to the National Portrait Gallery. In 2024 we had the extraordinary opportunity to acquire the full body of work, adding Some Lads #2, Some Lads #3, Some Lads #4 and Some Lads #5 to the collection.

Jimmy Little, Sydney, 2004

John Elliott

Previous exhibition, 2006

Gift of the artist 2005

Headspace 7

Me and My Place

Headspace 7: Me and My Place, the seventh in the National Portrait Gallery's series of student exhibitions, will be presented at Commonwealth Place. Me and My Place is the curatorial theme for the 2006 exhibition.

Portrait of Alan Marshall, 1955

Lina Bryans

Portrait, oil on cardboard

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999

Jimmy Little, 2003

Juno Gemes

Gift of the artist 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Kate Fitzpatrick, 1983

William Yang

Purchased 2003

Jimmy Little AO

Jimmy Little AO (1937–2012), singer, actor and advocate, was a Yorta Yorta man raised at the Cummerangunja Mission near the Murray River, New South Wales.

3 portraits in the collection

George Burarrwanga, Warumpi Band, 1984 (printed 2021)

Juno Gemes

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph, selenium toned on paper

Purchased 2021

Kenneth Gillespie, 2005

Dean Beletich

Purchased 2015

Mr Richard Goldsbrough

Richard Goldsbrough (1821–1886) was a butcher’s son from Shipley, Yorkshire, who became a leading Australian woolbroker.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait of Professors Margaret Gardner and Glyn Davis

Glyn Davis AC

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint on canvas

Professor Glyn Davis AC is Secretary to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

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.

Eddie Mabo (after Mike Kelley's 'Booth's Puddle' 1985, from Plato's Cave, Rothko's Chapel, Lincoln's profile) No.3, 1996

John Citizen

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 1999

Bob Ellis, 1999

David Naseby

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2001

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior

Piper, the native who accompanied Major Mitchell in his expedition to the interior, c. 1836

William Fernyhough

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2016

David Naseby

Magazine article by John Zubrzycki, 2016

David Naseby (1937–2022) was born in England and studied in the United Kingdom before coming to Australia in 1953.

8 portraits in the collection

Tribute

Bob Ellis

Magazine article, 2016

Bob Ellis (1942–2016) was a journalist, columnist, screenwriter, film director, playwright, speechwriter and critic.

Murray frees himself from straightjacket in public, 1928 by Sam Hood

Risky business

John Zubrzycki lauds the characters of the Australian escapology trade.

The Hon. Dame Roma Mitchell AC DBE CVO QC

The Hon. Dame Roma Mitchell AC DBE CVO QC (1913–2000) was the first Australian woman to be a Queen's Counsel, Supreme Court judge, Acting Chief Justice, Deputy University Chancellor, Chancellor and State Governor.

2 portraits in the collection

Mal Meninga, 2018

by Peter Hudson

Commissioned with funds provided by Maliganis Edwards Johnson and Alan Dodge AM 2018

Rev. William Singleton

The Reverend William Singleton (c. 1804-1875), Anglican clergyman, graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1826 and was ordained in the city’s Christ Church Cathedral in 1841.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir James Martin

Sir James Martin (1820-1886) was fourth Chief Justice of New South Wales.

1 portrait in the collection

Jack Charles

Jack Charles (1943–2022) was a revered Wiradjuri, Boon Warrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Woiwurrung and Yorta Yorta Elder, activist, actor, musician and artist.

1 portrait in the collection

The Aboriginal community of Lake Tyers, Gippsland

John Bulmer

John Bulmer (1833-1913), missionary and clergyman, came to Australia in 1852 and worked as a cabinetmaker in Melbourne for two years before going to the goldfields.

1 portrait in the collection

All the world's a stage

Joan Sutherland, Robert Helpmann and Raigh Roe

John Piper

Piper (life dates unknown), also known as John Piper, was a Wiradjuri man who acted as a guide to Thomas Mitchell’s surveying expedition along the Murray and Darling Rivers into present-day Victoria in 1836.

2 portraits in the collection

Tom Roberts

Tom Roberts (1856–1931), artist, came to Australia from England at the age of 13, but returned eight years later to study art in London.

9 portraits in the collection

R. M. Williams AO CMG

Archived media releases 2023

RM (Reginald Murray) Williams AO CBE (1908-2003), saddlery, boot and clothing manufacturer, miner and author, moved to Adelaide from his birthplace near the Flinders Rangers when he was 10.

1 portrait in the collection

Bree Pickering in front of Mikala Dwyer, Chromakinda, 2022, installation view, Murray Art Museum Albury

Bree Pickering appointed Director of the National Portrait Gallery

7 February 2023

The Board of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia announced the appointment of Bree Pickering to the role of Director.

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.

Nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground

Protest!

How can we dance when our earth is turning?

A Portrait of Colonial Australia

Rock’s raw potency made it the ideal medium for fomenting protest. The 1970s, 80s and onwards saw calls for social and environmental justice ring out through song.

Bungaree, late chief of the Broken Bay tribe, Sydney

Heads of the People

Previous exhibition, 2000

For Tom Roberts - Australia's best nineteenth-century portrait painter - neither a proto-national portrait gallery nor more popular collections of portrait heads, were sufficient public celebrations for the notables of Australian history

Michael Kimmelman

Magazine article by Pamela Gray, 2002

Michael Kimmelman, Chief Art Critic of The New York Times and author of Portraits: Talking with Artists at the Met, the Modern, the Louvre and Elsewhere, presented the National Portrait Gallery Third Anniversary Lecture on 2 March 2002. He was generously brought to Australia by the Gordon Darling Foundation and Qantas.

Masters of Fare

Chefs, winemakers, providores

Previous exhibition, 2004

Masters of fare: chefs, winemakers, providores celebrates men and women who have championed the unique culinary characteristics and produce of Australia, enriching our lives with new ideas and new flavours over the past forty years.

Rick Amor

21 Portraits

Previous exhibition, 2014

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.

Dorothy Gordon OBE

Dorothy Gordon (Jenner) OBE, ‘Andrea’ (1891-1985), actress, dressmaker, stuntwoman, journalist, radio broadcaster and charity fundraiser, grew up on a property near Narrabri and attended boarding school in Sydney before gaining a part as a chorus girl in Girl in a Train in Melbourne in 1912.

2 portraits in the collection

Executive

Our team

National Portrait Gallery Director Bree Pickering leads the executive team.

Exhibition opening speech

Leo Schofield introduces the exhibition, Masters of fare: chefs, winemakers, providores.

Portrait of Professors Margaret Gardner and Glyn Davis, 2017

Jacqueline Mitelman

Portraits in the Landscape

Commissioned with funds provided by Jim and Barbara Higgins, Sir Roderick Carnegie AC, Rupert Myer AO and Annabel Myer, Louise and Martyn Myer Foundation, Peter and Ruth McMullin, Diana Carlton, Professor Derek Denton AC, Harold Mitchell AC, Peter Jopling AM KC, Andrew and Liz Mackenzie, Patricia Patten, Tamie Fraser AO, Bruce Parncutt and Robin Campbell, Lauraine Diggins, Steven Skala AO and Lousje Skala 2017

Open Air

Previous exhibition, 2008

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

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

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.

Extremely generous and incredibly close

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2010

Michael Desmond examines the daguerreotype portraits created by American artist Chuck Close.

To Look Within

Self Portraits in Australia

Previous exhibition, 2004

This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of self-portraits in Australia, from the colonial period to the present

On the road again

Magazine article by Dr Deborah Hill, 2017

Deborah Hill talks figures with character, as the National Portrait Gallery touring exhibitions program welcomes its millionth visitor.

Hot Scots

Magazine article by Christopher Baker, 2013

James Holloway describes the first portraits you encounter when entering the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Bon Scott & Angus Young, Atlanta, Georgia

No shirt, no service

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Bon Scott and Angus Young photographed by Rennie Ellis are part of a display celebrating summer and images of the shirtless male.

Costantini's convictions

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2017

Jo Gilmour uncovers endearing authenticity in the art of a twice-transported Tasmanian.

Life class

Magazine article by Leonie Hellmers, 2004

Barbara Blackman reflects on her experiences as a life model.

dumb & dumber from The Imponderable Archive, 2013 Samuel Hodge

Everything, everyqueer, all at once

Magazine article by Bradley Vincent, 2022

Bradley Vincent considers Samuel Hodge’s use of the archive to create a queer vernacular of portraiture.

Indexing, the art of

About Face article

The first index I created was for my first book, and, to my astonishment, that was almost twenty-five years ago.

Writing on the Wall, 2019 Dr Christian Thompson AO

To arrive at hope

NPPP 2020 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2016

Penelope Grist, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2020 Prize.

Waterfall in Australia, c. 1830 by Augustus Earle

Augustus serendipitous

The London-born son of an American painter, Augustus Earle ended up in Australia by accident in January 1825.

Christmas Island

About Face article

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.

Nannultera, a young cricketer of the Natives' Training Institution, Poonindie , 1854 John Michael Crossland

The catechist and the cricketer

Magazine article by Stephen Valambras Graham, 2021

Stephen Valambras Graham traverses the intriguing socio-political terrain behind two iconic First Nations portraits of the 1850s.

In Profile

Some Lads

Magazine article by Daniel Browning, 2025

Daniel Browning delves into Tracey Moffatt’s Some lads series, recently acquired in full by the National Portrait Gallery.

Trevor Jamieson, 2016 by Brett Canet-Gibson

The more things change...

NPPP 2017 exhibition essay

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2019

Dr Sarah Engledow, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2017 Prize.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Honour board

Off grid

Aimee Board ventures within and beyond to consider two remarkable new Gallery acquisitions.

Helen Blaxland judging flower arrangements, c. 1940s photographer unknown

Petal to the mettle

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

Sarah Engledow lauds the very civil service of Dame Helen Blaxland.

The silent partner

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

One half of the team that was Eltham Films left scarcely a trace in the written historical record, but survives in a vivid portrait.

Rick Amor: 21 Portraits