What's on

The Portraits

Watch

The Gallery

Governance & Board

Circle of Friends

Learn

Access

Search the website

close close

What's on The Portraits The Gallery Learn Watch More O

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 / nancy 20wake

Nancy Wake

'The White Mouse'

Portrait story

A portrait story describing the amazing life of World War II resistance fighter, Nancy Wake.

Nancy Wake AC

Biography

Nancy Wake AC (1912–2011) was one of the most-decorated women of the Second World War.

1 portrait in the collection

Nancy Menetrey

Biography

Nancy Menetrey (née Wilkinson) was born in Sydney in 1924. After serving with the Australian Women's Land Army, formed during the Second World War to address labour shortages in the agricultural sector, she travelled overseas in the early 1950s, living and working in London for a number of years.

1 portrait in the collection

Nancy Borlase AM

Biography

Nancy Borlase AM (1914–2006), painter and writer, was born in New Zealand, and had to be dug out of the wreckage when an earthquake struck Napier in late 1931.

4 portraits in the collection

Nancy Borlase

In their own words

Recorded 1962

Dame Nancy Buttfield DBE

Biography

Dame Nancy Buttfield DBE (1912–2005) was the first South Australian woman member of Federal Parliament.

1 portrait in the collection

Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE

Biography

Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE (1915–2009), aviatrix, decided she wanted to be a pilot when, at age eight, she saw a plane make an emergency landing on a beach near her home.

2 portraits in the collection

Nancy Bird Walton part two

In their own words

Recorded 1977

Nancy Bird Walton part one

In their own words

Recorded 1977

Pat Mackie, 2004

Nancy Borlase AM

Portrait, oil on canvas

Purchased 2004

Nancy Wake - The White Mouse, 2001

Melissa Beowulf

Portrait, oil on canvas

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2004

James McClelland, 1946

Nancy Borlase AM

Portrait, oil on composition board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Gillian Appleton (McClelland) 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Nancy Bird Walton - Pioneer, 2003

Danelle Bergstrom

Portrait, oil on canvas

Purchased with funds provided by the Basil Bressler Bequest 2004

Senator Nancy Buttfield, 1958

Sir Ivor Hele

Portrait, oil on masonite

Gift of Senator Dame Nancy Buttfield DBE 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Nancy Bird Walton, c. 1973

Judy Cassab AO CBE

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE 2008. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

A Pioneering Life

Magazine article by Lauren Dalla, 2005

During her time in Australian politics, Dame Nancy Buttfield was an impressive advocate for equality for women and was responsible for ending the marriage bar for women in the Public Service.

Noel Fraser Hickey, 1957

Nancy Menetrey

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of the artist 2021

The aviatrix

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2009

Joanna Gilmour explores the extraordinary life of Australian female aviator Nancy Bird Walton AO OBE

Blue Collar Icon

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2005

Dr Sarah Engledow delves into the life of union leader Pat Mackie who is depicted in a portrait by Nancy Borlase AM.

Nancy Borlase and Laurie Short, 1991

Jenny Sages

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust 1998

Capturing the Mouse

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2004

Nancy Wake AC (b. 1912), one of the most decorated women of World War 2, earned the name the 'White Mouse' for her maddening ability to evade the Gestapo.

Double Portrait: Vida and Marie Breckenridge (study)

Double Portrait: Vida and Marie Breckenridge (study), 1999

Nancy Borlase AM

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of Marie Breckenridge 2004

Portrait 32

June - August 2009

Magazine

This issue features Vanity Fair, Nancy Bird Walton, William Barak, Sidney Kidman, Benjamin Duterrau's portraits of the Indigenous peoples of Tasmania, and more.

Portrait 13

September - November 2004

Magazine

This issue of Portrait Magazine features Nancy Wake, Jon Campbell's portrait of Paul Kelly, George Selth Coppin, Henri Cartier-Bresson and more.

Reverend George Brown DD, 1905

Crown Studios

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on studio card inside studio folder

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Nancy Joyce 2014

Melissa Beowulf

Biography

Melissa Beowulf grew up in Sydney, where she became a graphic artist.

2 portraits in the collection

Sir Edward Wheewall Holden

Biography

Sir Edward Wheewall Holden (1885-1947), industrialist and politician, was the son of Henry Holden, industrialist and civic leader, and the grandson of James Alexander Holden, Adelaide leather and saddlery business owner.

1 portrait in the collection

Pictorial profiles of hearth and home

Nearest & Dearest

Keep it in the family

Laurence Short AO OBE

Biography

Laurence Short AO OBE (1915–2009), trade union leader, joined the Federated Ironworkers' Association in 1937 and the Labor Party five years later.

1 portrait in the collection

Clyde Cameron

Biography

Clyde Cameron (1913-2008), Labor politician and historian, worked as a shearer and union organizer before serving as a Member for Hindmarsh between 1949 and 1980.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Ivor Hele

Biography

Sir Ivor Hele (1912–1993) was born in Adelaide and studied art at Prince Alfred College and the South Australian School of Arts and, later, in Paris and Munich.

3 portraits in the collection

Estate of Alan Boxer

Biography

Alan Boxer, public servant, academic and art collector, was schooled in Melbourne and gained his economic qualifications in Melbourne and Oxford.

Gaby Kennard, 2020

Lisa Tomasetti

Portrait, archival pigment print on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Joan Connery OAM 2020

Noni Hazlehurst, 1977 (printed 2011)

Lorrie Graham

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011

Judy Cassab

The artist's diary

Previous exhibition, 2013

The artist's diary profiles six decades of Cassab's work, from the early portrait commissions of the 1950s to later paintings that have helped confirm her eminent place in the canon of Australian portraiture.

MacKenzie family silhouette, 1846

Samuel Metford

Portrait, brush and ink, pen and ink, stencil cut-out with watercolour highlights on paper

Gift of the Estate of Nancy Wiseman 2007

Jenny Sages

Biography

Jenny Sages (b. 1933), artist, was born to Russian Jewish parents in Shanghai and came to Australia with her family in 1948.

34 portraits in the collection

Noni Hazlehurst AM

Biography

Actor, presenter and broadcaster Noni Hazlehurst AM (b. 1953) studied drama at Flinders University in South Australia, and after graduating gained roles in the television cop shows Division 4, Homicide and Matlock Police.

2 portraits in the collection

Noel Fraser Hickey

Biography

Noel Fraser Hickey (1921–2010) was born in Kensington, in Sydney, New South Wales, a stone's throw from the Royal Randwick Racecourse.

1 portrait in the collection

Promise Fulfilled

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2006

The life and achievements of Sir Edward Holden, who is represented in the portrait collection by a bust created by Leslie Bowles.

Gabrielle Kennard OAM

Biography

Gabrielle ‘Gaby’ Kennard OAM (b. 1944) was the first Australian woman to fly solo around the world.

1 portrait in the collection

First Ladies

Significant Australian Women 1913–2013

Previous exhibition, 2013

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

The line of fire

Magazine article by Michelle Fracaro, 2005

Michelle Fracaro examines the life of World War II nurse Margaret Anderson, whose portrait by Napier Waller is in the NPG collection.

All there in black and white

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

The National Portrait Gallery acquired a beguiling silhouette group portrait by Samuel Metford, an English artist who spent periods of his working life in America.

Portrait of a patron

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2007

A new painting by Jiawei Shen captures the vision and resolve of the Gallery's founder, L. Gordon Darling AC CMG.

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa

Husbands and Wives

Photographic Portraits from 19th Century Australia

Previous exhibition, 2010

'I have just been to my dressing case to take a peep at you.

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.

Diamond Doll

Magazine article by Karen Vickery, 2016

Karen Vickery delights in a thespian thread of the Australian yarn.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Honour board

Facing Australia, Composite portrait: Facing St Lucia, 2003

Conflicting images

Magazine article by Michael Desmond, 2008

Michael Desmond reveals the origins of composite portraits and their evolution in the pursuit of the ideal.

General Birdwood, the Idol of Anzac, taking a dip in the sea after a hard days work 1915

In the thick of it

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010

Projecting the splendour of the empire, and the resolve of its subjects, the bust of William Birdwood keeps a stiff upper lip in the National Portrait Gallery.

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.

Splendid, many-splendoured

Magazine article by Sandra Bruce, 2021

Sandra Bruce gazes on love and the portrait through Australian Love Stories’ multi-faceted prism.

Unbuttoning uniforms

Magazine article by Sharon Peoples, 2017

Sharon Peoples contemplates costumes and the construction of identity.

Flesh, figure and rock

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2018

Aimee Board traces Judy Cassab’s path to the Australian outback, arriving at the junction of inspiration and abstraction.

Eileen Dunne in The Hospital for Sick Children, 1940

The incomparable Beaton

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2005

To accompany the exhibition Cecil Beaton: Portraits, held at the NPG in 2005, this article is drawn from Hugo Vickers's authorised biography, Cecil Beaton (1985).

Progressive pictures

Magazine article by Aimee Board, 2017

Athol Shmith’s photographs contributed to the emergence of a new vision of Australian womanhood.

Uncommon Australians

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

General content

Sarah Engledow writes about Gordon and Marilyn Darling and their support for the National Portrait Gallery throughout its evolution.

58 results

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

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