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Hello everyone and welcome to another virtual programme
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with the National Portrait Gallery.
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Thank you so much for joining us today,
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it's so nice to see so many familiar faces
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and names coming through our Zoom room today.
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Before we get underway,
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I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians,
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of the lands on which we're broadcasting from today,
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which are the Ngambri and the Ngunnawal peoples.
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And I'd like to extend a warm welcome,
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to any first nations people who are joining us
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from around Australia today.
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If you would like to,
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we'd really encourage you to leave your cameras on,
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it's always lovely to see faces.
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What a surprise that people at Portrait Galleries
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who work at Portrait Galleries like to see faces.
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So if you feel comfortable,
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please feel free to leave your cameras on
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and throughout the programme today,
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if you'd like to interact with both Penny or myself,
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please pop any questions, comments, observations,
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into the chats function at Zoom,
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should be along the bottom of your device.
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And we always love to have your input into these programmes,
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we keep them highly interactive,
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as I'm sure most of you are very well aware
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and very familiar with our format now.
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Speaking of interaction,
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these Thursday programmes were developed rapidly,
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during last Canberra lockdown
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to bring you some conversations,
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with artists and photographers and also our MPG staff.
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And one of those programmes that we developed
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was The Brains Trust of Penny Grist.
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One of our curators who,
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decided to have a little bit of a play,
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we kinda made these programmes at Sandbox
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and we said, what can technology bring us,
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that maybe you can't necessarily do in the gallery space?
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And it turns out there were a few things.
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It meant that we could get up close and personal
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with some of the works in a way
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that our security guards would have connections
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about if you actually did in the physical gallery itself.
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But it also meant that we can get your feedback
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and input into the programmes.
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So we're gonna revisit a programme that Penny developed
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or format for a programme that Penny developed a while back
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where you get to take us, you the audience,
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get to take us on a little bit of a journey.
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So the only prescribed part of this programme really,
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is our starting point.
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And what did dishy starting point,
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is dishy a word Penny?
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Do we still use dishy?
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It sounds very old fashioned to me,
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but I'm bringing it back, anyway I'm gonna own dishy.
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So we're gonna start with a very dishy subject,
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Hugh Jackman, so I've got my friends,
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the art installer was here.
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We shot these works,
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Hugh Jackman was a relatively newly acquired portrait.
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We'd been after him for years,
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but we finally managed to secure this portrait
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and I've took all of these fantastic instal shots
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with our art handlers,
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ready for the announcement of the portrait,
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we never ended up using them.
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So I said to Penny this morning,
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right, our art handlers are getting a gauncy,
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they're getting out in front of our audience,
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whether they like it or not.
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So here they are, both behind Penny and myself
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installing Hugh Jackman on the wall.
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Penny, do you wanna take us on a journey?
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Yes, thank you so much.
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Your life got James, our amazing art handler beside me.
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While, Hugh still on the trolley there.
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So I'm now just gonna bring Hugh right up behind me.
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There we go.
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So we've called this programme Six Degrees of Hugh Jackman.
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Now that is entirely not so much for the dishyness
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but actually because he had the right number of syllables
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to mirror the number of syllables in the word separation,
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'cause we all know Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,
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Six Degrees of Hugh Jackman was the closest
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I could get in their collection.
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Another time we'll have,
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Six Degrees of Edmund Capon,
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he was the other one that was quite close.
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But I just wanted to start with a word
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about this Six Degrees thing,
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which I actually learned about recently
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and maybe you're all know this,
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but it was actually a term founded or coined,
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by Stanley Milgram,
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the famous American experimental psychologist, in 1967.
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So it has a like a dated vintage.
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What he did was send a whole lot of,
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like hundreds of people, a package
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and they needed to get it back to one Boston stockbroker
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that they could not possibly have known,
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by sending it only to acquaintances.
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And what he worked out was that,
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basically that took six connections,
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to get back to this totally unknown guy.
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So there you go and it's called the Small World Theory.
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So again, that small world thing,
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has it been teach, the long predates,
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all our social media networks.
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Anyway, that's just a little bit of,
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(laughs)
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bit of a digression to start off.
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So as with all these other programmes,
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if you're a regulars, I start off with the connection.
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We have a little bit have a look at the portrait in time.
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So, when the portrait was made
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and what that person was doing at that time,
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'cause I always think that's quite an interesting way,
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of exploring someone's biography.
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We have a little bit of a bit about the portrait
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and it's making, so a little bit of a quick close look
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and then we might throw in one or two fun facts
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before moving on to see which way you take me next.
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Now, this one has a little bit of a difference,
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because what I've built into this one are a few loops.
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So let's see if we make some loops
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or reach some dead ends and have to go back.
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So, let's see how we explore this particular,
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degrees of connection.
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In fact, you can get 10 degrees of Hugh Jackman
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out of this programmes not the advertised six,
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if we go the right way.
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So let's just start with this portrait to begin.
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Now, this was actually one of our most recent commissions,
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so painted in 2020 by Vincent Fantauzzo,
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the Melbourne artist, an interesting year,
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to be commissioning a portrait of an,
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by an artist based in Melbourne,
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of an active base between Sydney and New York.
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So, part of the portrait painting was based on Zoom calls,
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like this one and also on photographs that Hugh's partner,
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Debora-Lee Furness also an amazing actress,
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own right, took.
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And Vincent has commented that,
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that look in his eyes of sort of knowing and trusting.
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He thinks might have partly come,
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from that part of the process,
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with his sort of partner getting involved there
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so that Vincent has some material to work with.
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The other thing I really love about this portrait is that
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and something the artist has also commented on is,
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it's so not a Wolverine portrait.
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You couldn't actually get a portrait of this actor
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that is any further distant from his,
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most famed and awarded,
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"X-Men" character as Wolverine.
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And I think it's much closer to one of the most delightful,
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parts of his biography that I really love,
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which is that he spent his gap year in England,
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teaching PE, physical education.
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If there's anyone out there that was taught PE,
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by Hugh Jackman in his gap year,
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I think we'd love to hear from them.
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That would be one degree of separation, right?
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That would be one degree of separation,
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but I feel like that's much more the relaxed,
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it's the person, not the actor,
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it's very much not in character.
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Something I also find particularly fascinating
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about portraits of actors.
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There's a lovely, lovely intimacy to it
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and casualness to it, not only in the way, he's dressed,
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but also in the way he's posed.
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So, I mean, it's hard to get enough of Hugh Jackman,
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but should we move on or we'll never get through,
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this web of connection.
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So Hugh joe, should we go to next, what are the choices?
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Hmm, let's see, Hector,
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if we can bring up the two choices.
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We have,
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Reg Livermore and Kate Grenville.
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That should have raised approach there looking solitary.
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All right, so should we ask our audience,
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to tell us which path we might take?
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I'm gonna launch the poll.
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Tell me which way I'm gonna go people.
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So you should have a poll
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appearing on your device now.
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You can select either Reg or Kate.
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I can see the votes coming in thick and fast.
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Ooh, it's like a, it's a race.
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We'll probably give people, mm-hmm,
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maybe another few seconds, just to make a selection.
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And,
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that's it, ending the poll now.
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Sharing the results with you all.
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It looks like Reg maybe my comment about him,
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looking solitary has come out on top.
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So we're going down Reg Livermore path.
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Have we gone from dishy to solitary .
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Now I'm making up all the words today.
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Brilliant, all right.
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I'm gonna get, since you've chosen Reg,
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I'm gonna bring Reg up behind me as well.
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All right, so we've chosen Reg Livermore.
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So again,
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star of screen and stage.
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So in that sense, he already has something in common,
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with Hugh Jackman,
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but he's got another connection,
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that goes back a little bit further.
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And it's one that seems to come up every now and again,
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in his programmes.
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And it's not necessarily the one you would expect.
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They both went to the same high school,
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not at the same time, but they both went to Knox in Sydney.
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So Hugh Jackman was, star of their production,
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of "My Fair Lady", as you can imagine
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and was school captain.
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Reg had a slightly different approach to school.
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He left at early having for a few years,
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been working notes as well as doing school,
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working notes at The Independent Theatre
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and where he'd done some acting classes
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and sort of just went straight on the stage.
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So from about the age of 13,
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Reg Livermore was already hiring holes
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so he could stage his own pantomimes.
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So you could see the the theatre was in his blood
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and another person who's loved the theatre he was in,
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was the photographer of this amazing portrait
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in the collection.
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We've got many, many portraits by Robert McFarlane,
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in the collection and this is one of my absolute favourites.
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I relatively knew acquisition, over the last few years
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as Robert's been going through his archive.
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And it's just such a lovely,
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young moment but also exemplifies,
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that sort of sense of street photography of just capturing
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what Robert calls, the sort of still point
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as the world is moving around.
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And you've got this lovely moment of sort of contemplation
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and not showing us not being on stage.
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And again, it has that in common,
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with the Hugh Jackman portrait.
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So should we position Reg Livermore in time here?
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So 1965, for anyone that remembers,
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television of that time,
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he was the alien Varossa,
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on the ABC Sci-Fi show, "The Stranger",
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at the time this portrait was made,
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hard to imagine, but, you know.
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He was also performing as the witch in the "Wizard of Oz",
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at the Tivoli, right around the time this portrait was made.
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Robert McFarlane basically embedded himself
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with Sydney theatres, at this time.
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He was hanging out in dressing rooms, in the audience,
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00:11:39.430 --> 00:11:41.660
in rehearsals, on the stage.
261
00:11:41.660 --> 00:11:45.603
And so you get this beautiful suite of intimate portraits.
262
00:11:47.680 --> 00:11:51.740
So Penny, I think I'm having a quick look at our website.
263
00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:53.010
There's a cool little function,
264
00:11:53.010 --> 00:11:54.810
that people may not have noticed before,
265
00:11:54.810 --> 00:11:58.680
but our web programmer Patrick decided one day
266
00:11:58.680 --> 00:12:00.610
that it would be interesting for people to find out
267
00:12:00.610 --> 00:12:03.900
how old the people were when the portraits were taken.
268
00:12:03.900 --> 00:12:06.170
So if you jump on our website and follow any of the links
269
00:12:06.170 --> 00:12:08.890
that our friend Matt is dropping into the chat,
270
00:12:08.890 --> 00:12:11.370
you'll discover that Robert McFarlane was 23,
271
00:12:11.370 --> 00:12:14.890
when he took this photograph and Reg Livermore was 27.
272
00:12:14.890 --> 00:12:17.370
So just a nice little, if you scroll down on the page,
273
00:12:17.370 --> 00:12:19.570
it's a little bit of information right at the bottom.
274
00:12:19.570 --> 00:12:22.000
And that happens, is there for every single portrait
275
00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:22.833
in that collection.
276
00:12:22.833 --> 00:12:24.630
And some of them are really interesting,
277
00:12:24.630 --> 00:12:25.940
when you say how old they were,
278
00:12:25.940 --> 00:12:27.890
when the portraits were actually taken.
279
00:12:28.910 --> 00:12:31.380
Yeah, it is really interesting.
280
00:12:31.380 --> 00:12:33.084
I loved it when Patrick added that,
281
00:12:33.084 --> 00:12:33.917
(laughs)
282
00:12:33.917 --> 00:12:36.190
that element to the website
283
00:12:36.190 --> 00:12:39.480
and particularly for someone like Reg Livermore,
284
00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:44.480
who's such a, spans the generations in terms of his presence
285
00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:47.980
in the theatre and on our TV screens.
286
00:12:47.980 --> 00:12:50.770
I mean, he won an Helpmann Award in 2014,
287
00:12:50.770 --> 00:12:52.010
for performing in "Wicked".
288
00:12:52.010 --> 00:12:55.810
So even the "Wizard of Oz" had evolved into a new thing,
289
00:12:55.810 --> 00:12:57.670
with Reg still performing in it.
290
00:12:57.670 --> 00:13:02.360
And of course, he's also famous for being a gardener.
291
00:13:02.360 --> 00:13:04.440
I love people with multiple strings to their bow,
292
00:13:04.440 --> 00:13:07.440
but the Pirramimma garden in the Blue Mountains,
293
00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:08.713
was very famous.
294
00:13:09.980 --> 00:13:14.040
And now I think when I was researching this programme,
295
00:13:14.040 --> 00:13:16.150
I think you can book in time with Reg,
296
00:13:16.150 --> 00:13:17.770
for him to come and have a look at your garden
297
00:13:17.770 --> 00:13:19.780
and give you some advice.
298
00:13:19.780 --> 00:13:23.290
So how a little bit, I'll look at that.
299
00:13:23.290 --> 00:13:25.623
If you're in Southern Islands area.
300
00:13:26.980 --> 00:13:30.480
So, Reg Livermore, where is he gonna take us?
301
00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:34.890
I mean, with that level of, that span of career,
302
00:13:34.890 --> 00:13:37.573
there's so many directions we could go in in this,
303
00:13:39.090 --> 00:13:44.090
from him on, so should we say who the next choices throw up.
304
00:13:46.760 --> 00:13:48.060
Sounds good.
305
00:13:49.740 --> 00:13:50.573 line:15%
So,
306
00:13:51.730 --> 00:13:52.820 line:15%
ooh,
307
00:13:52.820 --> 00:13:54.430 line:15%
we have Bob and Dolly Dyer
308
00:13:54.430 --> 00:13:55.930 line:15%
and we have Ruth Cracknel.
309
00:13:55.930 --> 00:14:00.930 line:15%
I'm gonna relaunch this poll, ready and away we go.
310
00:14:01.030 --> 00:14:04.600 line:15%
Down the rabbit hole, Bob and Dolly and Ruth.
311
00:14:04.600 --> 00:14:06.720 line:15%
So I think you can probably all guess,
312
00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:11.070 line:15%
what the sort of, world of theatre connection is,
313
00:14:11.070 --> 00:14:12.610 line:15%
but there's some really specific,
314
00:14:12.610 --> 00:14:16.010 line:15%
nice ones to explore with both of these portraits,
315
00:14:16.010 --> 00:14:18.080 line:15%
which way will you go?
316
00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:18.913 line:15%
I can say...
Are we gonna,
317
00:14:18.913 --> 00:14:20.880 line:15%
Definite favourite coming through here.
318
00:14:20.880 --> 00:14:22.260 line:15%
Yeah.
319
00:14:22.260 --> 00:14:23.093 line:15%
I might see,
320
00:14:23.093 --> 00:14:25.003 line:15%
Penny, which do you reckon it will be?
321
00:14:26.900 --> 00:14:28.860 line:15%
There's a lot of, yeah.
322
00:14:28.860 --> 00:14:29.790 line:15%
Here we go.
323
00:14:29.790 --> 00:14:31.237 line:15%
Lot of votes for Ruth.
324
00:14:31.237 --> 00:14:33.537 line:15%
How can you go past Ruth Cracknel
325
00:14:33.537 --> 00:14:36.630 line:15%
and that's such a fantastic portrait of her too.
326
00:14:36.630 --> 00:14:37.530 line:15%
Sure is.
327
00:14:44.603 --> 00:14:47.150 line:15%
Okay, off we go.
328
00:14:47.150 --> 00:14:49.850 line:15%
So you've chosen Ruth, great choice.
329
00:14:49.850 --> 00:14:50.683 line:15%
So,
330
00:14:52.530 --> 00:14:54.210
what you've given me the opportunity to do,
331
00:14:54.210 --> 00:14:56.770
is tell you another thing that,
332
00:14:56.770 --> 00:14:59.960
Reg Livermore was doing in 1965,
333
00:14:59.960 --> 00:15:01.250
which was,
334
00:15:01.250 --> 00:15:02.963
he was in a,
335
00:15:03.850 --> 00:15:05.717
production code,
336
00:15:05.717 --> 00:15:08.980
"A cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down".
337
00:15:08.980 --> 00:15:10.480
A phrase that was already popped,
338
00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:13.220
sort of fairly in common parlance in Australia,
339
00:15:13.220 --> 00:15:17.440
but this review style show at the Tivoli just at,
340
00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:20.570
no, it was at the Phillip Street Theatre in Sydney,
341
00:15:20.570 --> 00:15:24.710
which ran for 15 months and over 250 performances,
342
00:15:24.710 --> 00:15:27.190
absolutely jammed that particular phrase,
343
00:15:27.190 --> 00:15:29.460
into Australian culture.
344
00:15:29.460 --> 00:15:33.443
I mean, you still hear politicians say every now and again,
345
00:15:35.395 --> 00:15:38.460
it's really in there and that was courtesy of,
346
00:15:38.460 --> 00:15:41.290
this production that both Reg and Ruth,
347
00:15:41.290 --> 00:15:44.480
starred in together at that time.
348
00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:48.690
So they spent a lot of time together on and off stage,
349
00:15:48.690 --> 00:15:50.760
I imagine during this time.
350
00:15:50.760 --> 00:15:52.160
So that's the connection to Reg,
351
00:15:52.160 --> 00:15:54.470
which is not just a general theatre connection.
352
00:15:54.470 --> 00:15:56.390
It's a really nice time-based
353
00:15:56.390 --> 00:16:01.253
and lovely Australian cultural based connection.
354
00:16:02.220 --> 00:16:04.450
So let's talk about this particular portrait.
355
00:16:04.450 --> 00:16:05.283
So,
356
00:16:08.105 --> 00:16:09.573
this was made by,
357
00:16:10.921 --> 00:16:12.440
Rosemary Valadon, in 1995.
358
00:16:16.270 --> 00:16:20.870
So that's the year after the end of,
359
00:16:20.870 --> 00:16:23.070
the ABC TV series
360
00:16:23.070 --> 00:16:26.643
that absolutely shot Ruth Cracknell into the,
361
00:16:27.610 --> 00:16:31.430
echelons of Australian entertainment history.
362
00:16:31.430 --> 00:16:33.880
And she was an accomplished stage actress,
363
00:16:33.880 --> 00:16:35.920
Shakespearian actress, all of,
364
00:16:35.920 --> 00:16:39.130
her work and film across film,
365
00:16:39.130 --> 00:16:41.050
like, her work is extraordinary,
366
00:16:41.050 --> 00:16:44.750
but mother and son definitely lodged her,
367
00:16:44.750 --> 00:16:46.320
in the Australian imagination.
368
00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:49.503
So that ran from 1995 to 1994.
369
00:16:49.503 --> 00:16:54.300
So this portrait was made right after,
370
00:16:54.300 --> 00:16:55.580
that series ended
371
00:16:56.930 --> 00:16:58.960
you could not get a greater contrast,
372
00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:02.100
from the character she was playing in that series,
373
00:17:02.100 --> 00:17:03.220
to this portrait.
374
00:17:03.220 --> 00:17:05.250
So Rosemary Valadon at the time
375
00:17:05.250 --> 00:17:09.080
was doing a series of goddesses, that was the sort of theme.
376
00:17:09.080 --> 00:17:10.363
So she was painting,
377
00:17:12.733 --> 00:17:15.010
Australian great women,
378
00:17:15.010 --> 00:17:16.360
in this sort of goddess theme.
379
00:17:16.360 --> 00:17:19.870
So this portraits actually called Ruth Cracknell,
380
00:17:19.870 --> 00:17:21.350
as the Sibyl.
381
00:17:21.350 --> 00:17:24.123
Now the Sibyl in Greek mythology is that,
382
00:17:26.140 --> 00:17:28.140
like apparently, incredibly elderly,
383
00:17:28.140 --> 00:17:30.560
although Ruth is only 70 in this portrait,
384
00:17:30.560 --> 00:17:33.490
thanks to Patrick's algorithm, I know that
385
00:17:33.490 --> 00:17:37.700
and they were responsible for prophecy.
386
00:17:37.700 --> 00:17:41.720
So she was a prophetess, an oracle,
387
00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:44.380
that's the figure of the Sibyl.
388
00:17:44.380 --> 00:17:49.090
I particularly love the grandeur of this portrait,
389
00:17:49.090 --> 00:17:52.420
with the bits and pieces representing the stage
390
00:17:52.420 --> 00:17:56.510
and that book and those sort of the,
391
00:17:56.510 --> 00:17:59.400
classical figures behind.
392
00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:02.490
And we know that Ruth Cracknell regards this
393
00:18:02.490 --> 00:18:05.810
as sort of the definitive portrait of Ruth Cracknell.
394
00:18:05.810 --> 00:18:08.600
So that's, you kinda get a better review from a sitter,
395
00:18:08.600 --> 00:18:10.653
to an artist than that.
396
00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:14.620
It's a really, really interesting piece of work too
397
00:18:14.620 --> 00:18:18.250
and kind of one of those love in contrast,
398
00:18:18.250 --> 00:18:20.130
to the Hugh Jackman that we started with
399
00:18:20.130 --> 00:18:21.990
and with the Reg Livermore,
400
00:18:21.990 --> 00:18:24.920
you've really got a sense of the theatrical,
401
00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:26.720
in this portrait of an actor.
402
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:29.570
So you don't necessarily have her in character
403
00:18:29.570 --> 00:18:32.560
or like she's sort of in character as a Sibyl,
404
00:18:32.560 --> 00:18:36.410
but she's very much in a set,
405
00:18:36.410 --> 00:18:38.993
immersed in a set and very happy there.
406
00:18:39.860 --> 00:18:44.860
So this was also the year after she won the 1994 Logie,
407
00:18:45.990 --> 00:18:50.170
for the most popular comedy personality.
408
00:18:50.170 --> 00:18:52.690
So yeah, I can't think why Rosemary paint in
409
00:18:52.690 --> 00:18:55.150
one of the Logie's in there in the,
410
00:18:55.150 --> 00:18:56.271
in the bottom there.
411
00:18:56.271 --> 00:18:57.440
(laughs)
412
00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:00.190
Penny, do you know, what the coloured sticks,
413
00:19:00.190 --> 00:19:02.350
they're a little bit hard to see on the screens,
414
00:19:02.350 --> 00:19:05.080
but you know what she's holding in her hand there.
415
00:19:05.080 --> 00:19:08.900
I was actually wondering that while I was examining this,
416
00:19:08.900 --> 00:19:11.420
while preparing, no, I don't actually.
417
00:19:11.420 --> 00:19:12.253
We might have to seak that...
418
00:19:12.253 --> 00:19:13.750
It could be a classical reference
419
00:19:13.750 --> 00:19:17.180
or it could be something, completely else.
420
00:19:17.180 --> 00:19:18.100
Hmm.
Yeah,
421
00:19:18.100 --> 00:19:20.860
that's a good subject for further research for somebody.
422
00:19:20.860 --> 00:19:21.810
Yeah, sounds good.
423
00:19:21.810 --> 00:19:25.050
And if anyone else in our audience has any ideas about,
424
00:19:25.050 --> 00:19:26.570
theatre people might have any ideas,
425
00:19:26.570 --> 00:19:28.330
what it might be referencing.
426
00:19:28.330 --> 00:19:31.010
I'm also intrigued by the books that she has,
427
00:19:31.010 --> 00:19:32.850
Mm-hmm.
piled up beside her,
428
00:19:32.850 --> 00:19:34.390
but I might have to go and have a closer look,
429
00:19:34.390 --> 00:19:36.440
at the portrait later on to see if there's anything there
430
00:19:36.440 --> 00:19:39.880
that can be discerned from having a closer look.
431
00:19:39.880 --> 00:19:42.280
Which you can, because this one is hanging,
432
00:19:42.280 --> 00:19:45.816
in the open portrait gallery at the moment.
433
00:19:45.816 --> 00:19:49.500
So anyone who's in Canberra, head in and take a closer look
434
00:19:49.500 --> 00:19:51.940
at those books sitting beside Ruth.
435
00:19:51.940 --> 00:19:54.220
Maureen's taken a stab at incense perhaps,
436
00:19:54.220 --> 00:19:56.870
but yeah, we'll let you know Maureen.
437
00:19:56.870 --> 00:19:59.273
So you're going down the Greek,
438
00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:02.673
sort of spiritual path there, hmm.
439
00:20:03.650 --> 00:20:06.410
So from "A cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down",
440
00:20:06.410 --> 00:20:08.340
where should we go from Ruth?
441
00:20:08.340 --> 00:20:09.930
Who does she connect to?
442
00:20:09.930 --> 00:20:12.173
Let's see, where are you gonna take me next.
443
00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:16.150 line:15%
Should we bring up my choices?
444
00:20:16.150 --> 00:20:20.310 line:15%
We have Kate Grenville or Bee Miles,
445
00:20:20.310 --> 00:20:21.190 line:15%
Ahh,
446
00:20:21.190 --> 00:20:23.390 line:15%
These are two very different characters.
447
00:20:23.390 --> 00:20:25.940 line:15%
Hey you fond, one of my little loops,
448
00:20:25.940 --> 00:20:29.290 line:15%
that I've built in, to this exciting journey.
449
00:20:29.290 --> 00:20:30.630 line:15%
So let's see.
450
00:20:30.630 --> 00:20:32.273 line:15%
Okay, launching the poll.
451
00:20:38.150 --> 00:20:39.780 line:15%
Two very different works,
452
00:20:39.780 --> 00:20:42.820 line:15%
two very different characters here.
453
00:20:42.820 --> 00:20:46.030 line:15%
And maybe you already know what the connection
454
00:20:46.030 --> 00:20:49.240 line:15%
between all three of these people might be.
455
00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:51.220 line:15%
I wonder if people have heard of Bee Miles,
456
00:20:51.220 --> 00:20:52.593 line:15%
be interesting to find out.
457
00:20:53.910 --> 00:20:56.139 line:15%
Oh my goodness, Penny,
458
00:20:56.139 --> 00:20:57.883 line:15%
(laughs)
459
00:20:57.883 --> 00:20:59.040 line:15%
Oh.
460
00:20:59.040 --> 00:21:00.060 line:15%
I don't think we've had this
461
00:21:00.060 --> 00:21:01.440 line:15%
in the history of,
462
00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:02.400 line:15%
choose your own adventure park,
463
00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:03.790 line:15%
oh somebody is on a lite date to come through.
464
00:21:03.790 --> 00:21:05.762 line:15%
Comes a little bit ahead.
465
00:21:05.762 --> 00:21:06.816 line:15%
Okay.
466
00:21:06.816 --> 00:21:08.490 line:15%
This is very exciting.
467
00:21:08.490 --> 00:21:10.290 line:15%
We had it up until a second ago,
468
00:21:10.290 --> 00:21:12.370 line:15%
that last part is just tipped us over,
469
00:21:12.370 --> 00:21:13.203 line:15%
so we're going down...
470
00:21:13.203 --> 00:21:15.420 line:15%
Yeah, hang there for a while but.
471
00:21:15.420 --> 00:21:18.100 line:15%
Going down the Kate Grenville path.
472
00:21:18.100 --> 00:21:19.650 line:15%
Brilliant, brilliant.
473
00:21:24.250 --> 00:21:28.293 line:15%
Now I'll just bring up Kate behind me, great.
474
00:21:29.300 --> 00:21:32.980 line:15%
So Kate Grenville, what is her connection to Ruth Cracknel
475
00:21:32.980 --> 00:21:34.250
and maybe some of you know,
476
00:21:34.250 --> 00:21:37.700
so Ruth Cracknel played,
477
00:21:37.700 --> 00:21:41.450
the title character in the film version,
478
00:21:41.450 --> 00:21:45.477
the 1996 film version of,
479
00:21:45.477 --> 00:21:46.860
"Lillian's Story".
480
00:21:46.860 --> 00:21:48.680
So "Lillian Story" is,
481
00:21:48.680 --> 00:21:51.473
one of Kate Greenville's most famous novels,
482
00:21:53.350 --> 00:21:57.300
although she's got a lot that are very, very well known
483
00:21:57.300 --> 00:21:58.133
and bestsellers.
484
00:21:58.133 --> 00:22:01.830
So, "Lillian's Story" was filmed by,
485
00:22:01.830 --> 00:22:05.570
Jerzy Domaradzki, director in 1996
486
00:22:05.570 --> 00:22:09.460
and Ruth played the older Lillian character
487
00:22:09.460 --> 00:22:13.010
and tiny Collette actually played the younger character.
488
00:22:13.010 --> 00:22:17.540
So that's the connection between Ruth and Kate.
489
00:22:17.540 --> 00:22:19.563
Now, this is a beautiful portrait,
490
00:22:22.951 --> 00:22:25.897
from Jenny Sages painted in 2012.
491
00:22:28.080 --> 00:22:31.300
Kate Grenville at this point in her life had just finished,
492
00:22:31.300 --> 00:22:34.900 line:15%
the third in this sort of trilogy, although it wasn't,
493
00:22:34.900 --> 00:22:37.870 line:15%
it was a series of novels that came,
494
00:22:37.870 --> 00:22:39.827 line:15%
that started with "The Secret River".
495
00:22:41.890 --> 00:22:45.860 line:15%
So she just published "Sarah Thornhill" the year before,
496
00:22:45.860 --> 00:22:48.820 line:15%
she was up to seven novels at this point.
497
00:22:48.820 --> 00:22:52.960 line:15%
And you can see her here on dark and dark and John land
498
00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:55.670 line:15%
and the Hawkesbury River.
499
00:22:55.670 --> 00:23:00.670 line:15%
So the artist and Sarah went out for a walk along the place
500
00:23:01.350 --> 00:23:06.350
where "The Secret River" original novel and series are set.
501
00:23:06.570 --> 00:23:09.650
And you may have seen, I always do a little bit of a plug
502
00:23:09.650 --> 00:23:12.420
for an ABC programme seemingly in this series.
503
00:23:12.420 --> 00:23:16.580
And if you haven't been catching Claudia Karvan
504
00:23:17.430 --> 00:23:19.720
and "The Books That Made Us" on ABC,
505
00:23:19.720 --> 00:23:20.827
go back and watch it on iview
506
00:23:20.827 --> 00:23:24.180
and you can see a beautiful interview with Kate Grenville
507
00:23:24.180 --> 00:23:26.550
about that there to.
508
00:23:26.550 --> 00:23:29.720
Something I wanted to share with you here,
509
00:23:29.720 --> 00:23:33.980
is because we have a fantastic portrait story,
510
00:23:33.980 --> 00:23:37.720
with Kate Grenville, a fantastic interview, where she says,
511
00:23:37.720 --> 00:23:40.730
a few really lovely things, not only about this painting,
512
00:23:40.730 --> 00:23:44.690
but also about the writing, the process of writing,
513
00:23:44.690 --> 00:23:46.950
I didn't know, to watching the portrait story,
514
00:23:46.950 --> 00:23:49.030
she actually started as a film editor
515
00:23:49.030 --> 00:23:52.580
and it was that process of learning to put together,
516
00:23:52.580 --> 00:23:55.203
hours and hours and hours of footage,
517
00:23:56.929 --> 00:24:00.880
into a story that helped her learn to be a storyteller
518
00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:02.223
and learn to be a writer.
519
00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:06.870
And she talks about writing as a long hard
520
00:24:06.870 --> 00:24:08.760
and often kind of boring process,
521
00:24:08.760 --> 00:24:11.420
which I think is really fun.
522
00:24:11.420 --> 00:24:14.130
But she also says and you can go and watch it yourself
523
00:24:14.130 --> 00:24:17.300
and hear these in her own voice, in her own words,
524
00:24:17.300 --> 00:24:18.810
that she talks about,
525
00:24:18.810 --> 00:24:21.030
but it's lovely to sort of think about it,
526
00:24:21.030 --> 00:24:23.620
while seeing these portraits.
527
00:24:23.620 --> 00:24:26.960
So, she met Jenny Sages
528
00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:28.160
and realised immediately,
529
00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:31.310
they were on the same wavelength as curators,
530
00:24:31.310 --> 00:24:33.940
because she had no preconceptions like me,
531
00:24:33.940 --> 00:24:35.190
she starts with a question,
532
00:24:35.190 --> 00:24:37.470
in so far as it painting can start with a question
533
00:24:37.470 --> 00:24:40.140
and allows the material to guide her,
534
00:24:40.140 --> 00:24:41.777
which is exactly how I make art.
535
00:24:41.777 --> 00:24:44.260
And we had some wonderful conversations,
536
00:24:44.260 --> 00:24:46.080
which people who don't make art
537
00:24:46.080 --> 00:24:48.200
often find hard to understand
538
00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:49.820
because they think it's a sensible
539
00:24:49.820 --> 00:24:52.820
and more efficient process than it actually is.
540
00:24:52.820 --> 00:24:55.650
It's a terrible model and you fling yourself in
541
00:24:55.650 --> 00:24:59.110
and kinda swim feel life and hope at the end,
542
00:24:59.110 --> 00:25:00.540
you emerge with something.
543
00:25:00.540 --> 00:25:03.300
I think that's a really lovely description,
544
00:25:03.300 --> 00:25:05.520
down to earth description of writing a note,
545
00:25:05.520 --> 00:25:08.470
from one of Australia's greatest novelists.
546
00:25:08.470 --> 00:25:11.350
So they sat together for several sessions,
547
00:25:11.350 --> 00:25:14.630
while Jenny took photographs and did some sketches
548
00:25:15.650 --> 00:25:19.710
and she took off her shoes because she wanted to be barefoot
549
00:25:19.710 --> 00:25:23.823
in that environment and she felt wonderfully relaxed.
550
00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:27.750
And she's really pleased with the portrait,
551
00:25:27.750 --> 00:25:29.570
is how she ends that.
552
00:25:29.570 --> 00:25:31.350
Ends her portrait story there
553
00:25:31.350 --> 00:25:35.630
and you can absolutely see that in this portrait,
554
00:25:35.630 --> 00:25:39.250
there's a huge amount of relaxation and comfort that comes,
555
00:25:39.250 --> 00:25:40.877
it is one of the most popular works,
556
00:25:40.877 --> 00:25:43.510
in the Portrait Gallery Collection.
557
00:25:43.510 --> 00:25:46.610
And it's very much a testament to Jenny Sage's approach,
558
00:25:46.610 --> 00:25:49.100
to all of her portraiture in her incredible way,
559
00:25:49.100 --> 00:25:50.473
she was able to build,
560
00:25:51.520 --> 00:25:53.353
rapport with each seater,
561
00:25:54.761 --> 00:25:55.653
that she met.
562
00:25:56.900 --> 00:26:00.180
It's a really lovely experience seeing these portrait
563
00:26:00.180 --> 00:26:03.453
in real life too, 'cause it has a great depth to it.
564
00:26:04.390 --> 00:26:07.150
That seems to sort of earn a calmness,
565
00:26:07.150 --> 00:26:10.210
that really seems to reflect that,
566
00:26:10.210 --> 00:26:13.193
quietness of a writer's process.
567
00:26:14.500 --> 00:26:15.810
Yeah.
568
00:26:15.810 --> 00:26:16.643
So,
569
00:26:18.210 --> 00:26:19.877
if you also, with Kate Grenville,
570
00:26:19.877 --> 00:26:22.470
"A Room Full of Leaves" is her most recent work.
571
00:26:22.470 --> 00:26:25.953
Again, exploring a historical episode,
572
00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:28.960
in Australian life,
573
00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:31.410
the journey of Elizabeth MacArthur,
574
00:26:31.410 --> 00:26:36.080
a really, really fascinating woman,
575
00:26:36.080 --> 00:26:39.673
of colonial Australian history so,
576
00:26:41.100 --> 00:26:42.053
that's Kate,
577
00:26:43.330 --> 00:26:45.490
I wonder where we're gonna go next.
578
00:26:45.490 --> 00:26:46.780
Is that not Kate for everyone,
579
00:26:46.780 --> 00:26:49.270
I feel like you can't possibly have enough of this portrait,
580
00:26:49.270 --> 00:26:52.040
but we probably can't stay here forever.
581
00:26:52.040 --> 00:26:54.203
So let's see where she takes us next.
582
00:26:56.010 --> 00:26:58.450
Whoa, connection with Kate
583
00:26:58.450 --> 00:27:01.830
and now we're gonna circling round again, Penny.
584
00:27:01.830 --> 00:27:02.663 line:15%
Ahh,
Are we for,
585
00:27:02.663 --> 00:27:04.129 line:15%
the night trip?
are we cycling, yeah
586
00:27:04.129 --> 00:27:05.160 line:15%
(laughs)
587
00:27:05.160 --> 00:27:08.820 line:15%
Ahh, now, if you choose Ruth,
588
00:27:08.820 --> 00:27:11.080 line:15%
I wonder if you'll get different connections,
589
00:27:11.080 --> 00:27:13.040 line:15%
to the ones you got last time,
590
00:27:13.040 --> 00:27:14.920 line:15%
or are you gonna take your second chance,
591
00:27:14.920 --> 00:27:17.480 line:15%
to know about Bee Miles,
592
00:27:17.480 --> 00:27:21.020 line:15%
that enigmatic character that you say there emerging,
593
00:27:21.020 --> 00:27:23.470 line:15%
from those charcoals stroke?
594
00:27:23.470 --> 00:27:24.900 line:15%
Well, it was so close last time,
595
00:27:24.900 --> 00:27:28.374 line:15%
let's see what happens this time with poll.
596
00:27:28.374 --> 00:27:29.957 line:15%
Here goes the poll.
597
00:27:32.190 --> 00:27:33.170 line:15%
Oh.
598
00:27:33.170 --> 00:27:34.113 line:15%
Oh wow.
599
00:27:34.950 --> 00:27:37.833 line:15%
We don't want second lot of Ruth, we gonna,
600
00:27:37.833 --> 00:27:40.010 line:15%
definitely looks like people wanna take,
601
00:27:40.010 --> 00:27:44.520 line:15%
the path of Bee Miles and explore more about that character.
602
00:27:44.520 --> 00:27:46.183 line:15%
Oh rush, we can do that.
603
00:27:56.510 --> 00:27:57.343 line:15%
So,
604
00:27:58.270 --> 00:28:02.840 line:15%
people in Sydney might be more familiar with Bee Miles
605
00:28:03.910 --> 00:28:05.630 line:15%
than people in other parts of Australia,
606
00:28:05.630 --> 00:28:07.350 line:15%
although she was pretty well renowned
607
00:28:07.350 --> 00:28:09.550
in New South Wales as well.
608
00:28:09.550 --> 00:28:12.657
So the connection with Kate Grenville is that her novel,
609
00:28:12.657 --> 00:28:16.930
"Lillian's Story" and the character Lillian,
610
00:28:16.930 --> 00:28:19.860
that Ruth Cracknel play in the film version of the story,
611
00:28:19.860 --> 00:28:23.970
is actually based on Beatrice Miles, Bee Miles.
612
00:28:23.970 --> 00:28:28.210
So she was often referred to as an eccentric,
613
00:28:28.210 --> 00:28:31.560
as a sort of well-known Sydney identity.
614
00:28:31.560 --> 00:28:33.853
She had an exuberant way of living.
615
00:28:34.700 --> 00:28:36.300
She was non-conforming,
616
00:28:36.300 --> 00:28:39.130
so she was a real presence on the streets of Sydney,
617
00:28:39.130 --> 00:28:42.370
particularly for cab drivers repeatedly,
618
00:28:42.370 --> 00:28:45.050
because she would just introduce herself into the cab
619
00:28:45.050 --> 00:28:47.850
and ask to be taken places
620
00:28:47.850 --> 00:28:50.010
and not give them much other option.
621
00:28:50.010 --> 00:28:52.870
Now I also another regular feature
622
00:28:52.870 --> 00:28:55.670
apart from my ABC recommendation in these programmes,
623
00:28:55.670 --> 00:28:58.340
has been my recommendation for,
624
00:28:58.340 --> 00:29:00.230
dive down the Trove rabbit hole.
625
00:29:00.230 --> 00:29:05.050
So I would say that a Google or a Trove search,
626
00:29:05.050 --> 00:29:08.740
of Bee Miles, is a very rewarding experience.
627
00:29:08.740 --> 00:29:10.640
And there's a fantastic article,
628
00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:15.340
in the women's weekly actually in 1968,
629
00:29:15.340 --> 00:29:17.490
which is the recollection of this cab driver,
630
00:29:17.490 --> 00:29:19.683
who was pretty familiar with Bee.
631
00:29:20.650 --> 00:29:22.820
And she turned up on Christmas day
632
00:29:22.820 --> 00:29:25.403
asking to be taken to Broken Hill via Melbourne.
633
00:29:26.370 --> 00:29:28.840
And he scooped up his cab driver mate grief
634
00:29:28.840 --> 00:29:33.780
and they went, on this journey and she had an allowance
635
00:29:33.780 --> 00:29:38.330
that was coming in, even though she was sleeping rough,
636
00:29:38.330 --> 00:29:39.730
she was just around Sydney,
637
00:29:39.730 --> 00:29:42.519
she was just not participating,
638
00:29:42.519 --> 00:29:45.223
in the sort of traditional way of living.
639
00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:48.250
And they went
640
00:29:50.600 --> 00:29:53.203
and so she paid for the cab fare,
641
00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:55.823
for that whole trip.
642
00:29:57.040 --> 00:30:00.400
And they had this amazing trip through,
643
00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:03.000
Victoria and Western New South Wales,
644
00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:06.090
with her able to name all of the plants,
645
00:30:06.090 --> 00:30:10.110
not only name the plants, but the Latin names as well,
646
00:30:10.110 --> 00:30:12.920
the animals, her knowledge was extraordinary.
647
00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:14.640
And indeed on the streets of Sydney,
648
00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:17.720
other things she was most famous for was,
649
00:30:17.720 --> 00:30:20.620
her earning money by offering to recite poems
650
00:30:20.620 --> 00:30:21.573
and Shakespeare,
651
00:30:23.018 --> 00:30:24.023
for a fee.
652
00:30:24.940 --> 00:30:28.110
So she's a pretty extraordinary character
653
00:30:28.110 --> 00:30:31.320
and hence the, I imagine the attraction to Kate Grenville,
654
00:30:31.320 --> 00:30:36.320
in turning this character and her life and her experience,
655
00:30:37.080 --> 00:30:40.540
into that incredible novel.
656
00:30:40.540 --> 00:30:43.360
So this portrait was actually taken,
657
00:30:43.360 --> 00:30:45.210
is actually based on a photograph
658
00:30:45.210 --> 00:30:48.390
and was made a few years after they passed away.
659
00:30:48.390 --> 00:30:52.893
So it was made in about 1976,
660
00:30:54.020 --> 00:30:56.240
about three years after her death.
661
00:30:56.240 --> 00:31:01.150
And I just think it's a really interesting, beautiful,
662
00:31:01.150 --> 00:31:05.520
like depiction of this exuberant character, a great smile
663
00:31:05.520 --> 00:31:06.913
and the artist,
664
00:31:08.790 --> 00:31:10.300
has quite a lovely connection.
665
00:31:10.300 --> 00:31:12.380
So is obviously very familiar with her
666
00:31:12.380 --> 00:31:15.460
and wanted to recognise her identity
667
00:31:16.770 --> 00:31:19.640
and presence in Sydney at that time.
668
00:31:19.640 --> 00:31:22.130
So he actually was Roderick Shaw.
669
00:31:22.130 --> 00:31:24.330
So he painted in World War II,
670
00:31:24.330 --> 00:31:29.330
painted camouflage with Dobell and with Joshua Smith,
671
00:31:29.740 --> 00:31:30.680
during World War II
672
00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:34.163
and then later was a member of the,
673
00:31:35.380 --> 00:31:38.020
artists for democracy and artists against nuclear war.
674
00:31:38.020 --> 00:31:39.490
So in his own way,
675
00:31:39.490 --> 00:31:42.163
he was a bit of a social activist as well.
676
00:31:45.380 --> 00:31:49.770
The audience note that astutely note that,
677
00:31:49.770 --> 00:31:53.550
Bee Miles is listed on Wikipedia and other resources
678
00:31:53.550 --> 00:31:57.660
as being spelled BEA as in the beginning of Beatrice,
679
00:31:57.660 --> 00:32:00.760
which could very well be the correct name,
680
00:32:00.760 --> 00:32:02.570
but often with the portrait galleries collection,
681
00:32:02.570 --> 00:32:06.460
you may find little quirks in the titling of works.
682
00:32:06.460 --> 00:32:07.950
And that's often because we follow,
683
00:32:07.950 --> 00:32:10.650
what the artists themselves titled the work,
684
00:32:10.650 --> 00:32:14.490
so it could well be that and Penny correct me if I'm wrong,
685
00:32:14.490 --> 00:32:16.480
but it could be that Roderick knew her
686
00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:17.890
or wrote her name down as BEE
687
00:32:17.890 --> 00:32:19.950
and that's just what's gone down,
688
00:32:19.950 --> 00:32:21.793
in the creation of the portrait.
689
00:32:22.800 --> 00:32:24.330
That actually struck me too
690
00:32:24.330 --> 00:32:27.810
and I did a little bit of a deck
691
00:32:27.810 --> 00:32:29.830
and it's actually pretty interchangeable as well,
692
00:32:29.830 --> 00:32:31.740
in the documentation.
693
00:32:31.740 --> 00:32:35.020
So it could well be that, that's what the artist applied.
694
00:32:36.010 --> 00:32:41.010
It could also be, it was just interchangeably used,
695
00:32:42.760 --> 00:32:44.193
during her life as well.
696
00:32:47.490 --> 00:32:49.850
It's such a great portrait, where should we go next?
697
00:32:49.850 --> 00:32:52.293
Oh, let's find out.
698
00:32:53.230 --> 00:32:55.829
I think this might be our last connection Penny.
699
00:32:55.829 --> 00:32:57.470
Oh, we've reached a dead end.
700
00:32:57.470 --> 00:32:59.410 line:15%
We may have at the end of this one.
701
00:32:59.410 --> 00:33:01.340 line:15%
So the choices that we have,
702
00:33:01.340 --> 00:33:03.823 line:15%
Jill Ker Conway and Quong Tart.
703
00:33:05.710 --> 00:33:07.173 line:15%
I'm gonna launch the poll.
704
00:33:08.750 --> 00:33:10.390 line:15%
This is an exciting twist,
705
00:33:10.390 --> 00:33:13.163 line:15%
very, very different forms of portraiture.
706
00:33:14.610 --> 00:33:17.593 line:15%
And it's quite from that story about Bee,
707
00:33:18.600 --> 00:33:22.000 line:15%
which connection are you most interested to hear about,
708
00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:23.663 line:15%
like what possible connection,
709
00:33:24.660 --> 00:33:27.760 line:15%
could the famous Bee Miles that Sydney identity,
710
00:33:27.760 --> 00:33:29.700 line:15%
have to either of these people.
711
00:33:29.700 --> 00:33:30.980 line:15%
I'm genuinely interested
712
00:33:30.980 --> 00:33:32.180 line:15%
because I missed the tech run,
713
00:33:32.180 --> 00:33:33.670 line:15%
so I have absolutely no idea.
714
00:33:33.670 --> 00:33:36.590 line:15%
So this will be as much of a surprise to me,
715
00:33:36.590 --> 00:33:38.410 line:15%
as it is to everybody else.
716
00:33:38.410 --> 00:33:42.995 line:15%
So the choice has been made, Jill Ker Conway.
717
00:33:42.995 --> 00:33:43.828 line:15%
Oh.
718
00:33:46.470 --> 00:33:47.910 line:15%
(clears throat)
719
00:33:47.910 --> 00:33:48.743 line:15%
All right.
720
00:33:52.380 --> 00:33:55.493 line:15%
Let's bring out Jill Ker Conway behind me.
721
00:33:56.620 --> 00:33:58.830 line:15%
I think people have voted for,
722
00:33:58.830 --> 00:34:01.163 line:15%
a very beautiful portrait here.
723
00:34:03.230 --> 00:34:06.600
It's a lovely scene and in a way,
724
00:34:06.600 --> 00:34:08.470
like is a lovely companion paste,
725
00:34:08.470 --> 00:34:12.290
to the Kate Grenville portrait of that,
726
00:34:12.290 --> 00:34:16.130
intellectual powerhouse sitting there quietly in nature.
727
00:34:16.130 --> 00:34:19.360
So what is the connection to Bee Miles?
728
00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:24.360
So, it's Ashfield in Sydney, so we're building a bit of a,
729
00:34:24.420 --> 00:34:27.347
this is a real Sydney network that we've built,
730
00:34:27.347 --> 00:34:31.373
around Hugh Jackman here, so Ashfield in Sydney.
731
00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:36.710
Oh no, I've got my connection wrong,
732
00:34:36.710 --> 00:34:38.870
that was the connection to Quong Tart.
733
00:34:38.870 --> 00:34:40.000
We'll go there afterwards.
734
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:41.450
Hey,
(laughs)
735
00:34:41.450 --> 00:34:42.550
Ashfield, hold your horses, we're coming back.
736
00:34:42.550 --> 00:34:44.580
We've got another Sydney connection.
737
00:34:44.580 --> 00:34:46.660
I'm like, I didn't know, as I was saying,
738
00:34:46.660 --> 00:34:49.960
I didn't know you had anything to do with Ashfield,
739
00:34:49.960 --> 00:34:51.410
we'll see where this sentence goes,
740
00:34:51.410 --> 00:34:53.500
I'm like, no, that's the Quong Tart connection,
741
00:34:53.500 --> 00:34:55.510
which I've now, we'll go to that one in a second,
742
00:34:55.510 --> 00:34:57.630
we'll pretend you chose both of them,
743
00:34:57.630 --> 00:34:58.960
'cause they're both fascinating.
744
00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:01.360
This one is another Sydney connection,
745
00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:05.500
which is similar to the Hugh Jackman, Reg connection,
746
00:35:05.500 --> 00:35:06.950
it's an old-school connection.
747
00:35:06.950 --> 00:35:08.025
So both of them went to,
748
00:35:08.025 --> 00:35:12.480
Abbotsleigh Girls School in Sydney and Sydney Uni.
749
00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:15.410
Bee Miles actually pulled out of her arts degree
750
00:35:15.410 --> 00:35:16.243
because she didn't think,
751
00:35:16.243 --> 00:35:18.960
there was enough Australian poets and writers,
752
00:35:18.960 --> 00:35:21.650
being discussed in her degree
753
00:35:21.650 --> 00:35:24.286
and so she's good out of it, out of there.
754
00:35:24.286 --> 00:35:25.460
Oh, hey.
755
00:35:25.460 --> 00:35:26.426
Yeah.
756
00:35:26.426 --> 00:35:28.380
(laughs)
757
00:35:28.380 --> 00:35:33.380
Jill kept going and got the university middle in history,
758
00:35:33.480 --> 00:35:34.900
from Sydney Uni.
759
00:35:34.900 --> 00:35:37.980
She applied to the department of external affairs
760
00:35:37.980 --> 00:35:40.610
and because she was a woman, she didn't get the job.
761
00:35:40.610 --> 00:35:43.990
So she promptly got a,
762
00:35:43.990 --> 00:35:46.550
Fulbright scholarship to go to Harvard.
763
00:35:46.550 --> 00:35:48.580
So she ends up in America,
764
00:35:48.580 --> 00:35:52.550
which is where we met her in this portrait,
765
00:35:52.550 --> 00:35:56.080
because she became the first woman president,
766
00:35:56.080 --> 00:35:57.400
of Smith College,
767
00:35:57.400 --> 00:36:01.970
which is the biggest women's college in America.
768
00:36:01.970 --> 00:36:04.830
And it was actually where she met,
769
00:36:04.830 --> 00:36:07.730
the artist of this portrait in 1987,
770
00:36:07.730 --> 00:36:10.493
Sarah Belchetz-Swenson.
771
00:36:12.430 --> 00:36:15.720 line:15%
Sarah was painting Jill's official portraits,
772
00:36:15.720 --> 00:36:19.630 line:15%
of president to a portrait in that particular role.
773
00:36:19.630 --> 00:36:23.940 line:15%
But as often happens, when an artist makes a scene
774
00:36:23.940 --> 00:36:25.370 line:15%
that they really connect with,
775
00:36:25.370 --> 00:36:28.000 line:15%
they became really good friends
776
00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:33.000
and Sarah then offered to paint a more relaxed,
777
00:36:33.540 --> 00:36:36.980
personal portrait of her friend, Jill.
778
00:36:36.980 --> 00:36:40.950
So to put her in time in 1987 here,
779
00:36:40.950 --> 00:36:42.100
she was a visiting,
780
00:36:42.100 --> 00:36:44.670
that was after her term at Smith College.
781
00:36:44.670 --> 00:36:48.230
She was a visiting professor at MIT.
782
00:36:48.230 --> 00:36:50.610
The book she wrote that year was called
783
00:36:50.610 --> 00:36:53.407
and I'm gonna read this off my notes, just here,
784
00:36:53.407 --> 00:36:56.050
"Utopian Dream or Dystopian Nightmare",
785
00:36:56.050 --> 00:36:59.593
19th century feminist ideas about quality.
786
00:37:00.820 --> 00:37:03.713
Which is interesting in light of her personal history,
787
00:37:04.570 --> 00:37:06.460
with the quality there,
788
00:37:06.460 --> 00:37:11.210
but she was an absolute towering intellectual figure,
789
00:37:11.210 --> 00:37:15.290
in academia and many boards
790
00:37:15.290 --> 00:37:18.480
and yeah, an extraordinary woman
791
00:37:18.480 --> 00:37:21.520
and I love seeing her depicted in this,
792
00:37:21.520 --> 00:37:23.913
beautiful, quiet scene.
793
00:37:26.670 --> 00:37:29.670
So, let's explore Quong Tart since you already know
794
00:37:29.670 --> 00:37:32.093
the connection with the Ashfield.
795
00:37:33.140 --> 00:37:35.170
Is such a fantastic portrait though,
796
00:37:35.170 --> 00:37:37.413 line:15%
I'd love to hear a little bit more about this one.
797
00:37:38.840 --> 00:37:42.223 line:15%
All right, so I'm gonna bring Quong up behind me as well.
798
00:37:44.130 --> 00:37:44.963 line:15%
All rush,
799
00:37:45.860 --> 00:37:48.573 line:15%
so this is by a fantastic,
800
00:37:49.530 --> 00:37:52.280 line:15%
contemporary artist called Parmela See.
801
00:37:52.280 --> 00:37:54.220 line:15%
And this is part of a series of,
802
00:37:54.220 --> 00:37:57.610
16 silhouette paper cut portraits,
803
00:37:57.610 --> 00:37:59.650
that we acquired for the collection,
804
00:37:59.650 --> 00:38:01.700
that all recognise and celebrate
805
00:38:01.700 --> 00:38:05.673
Chinese Australian achievers and are around,
806
00:38:06.860 --> 00:38:09.170
making sure that that history,
807
00:38:09.170 --> 00:38:12.410
of Chinese Australian migration in the 19th century
808
00:38:12.410 --> 00:38:14.410
and the contributions that those people made
809
00:38:14.410 --> 00:38:16.830
to Australian life and culture,
810
00:38:16.830 --> 00:38:19.640
are celebrated and recognised.
811
00:38:19.640 --> 00:38:22.110
So Quong Tart has a really interesting story,
812
00:38:22.110 --> 00:38:25.480
came to Australia as part of indentured labour,
813
00:38:25.480 --> 00:38:28.070
on the Gold Fields when he was known,
814
00:38:28.070 --> 00:38:31.730
but he was clearly awesome character from the start.
815
00:38:31.730 --> 00:38:34.020
He started the football team in Braidwood,
816
00:38:34.020 --> 00:38:36.420
so we're getting bit bit close to a Canberra story,
817
00:38:36.420 --> 00:38:37.680
Canberra connection here
818
00:38:39.247 --> 00:38:41.940
and was the captain captain of the cricket team.
819
00:38:41.940 --> 00:38:43.350
So,
820
00:38:43.350 --> 00:38:47.640
he was already a pretty active social figure.
821
00:38:47.640 --> 00:38:50.090
So having made some money on the Gold Fields,
822
00:38:50.090 --> 00:38:55.090
he went to Sydney and became one of the late 19th century's,
823
00:38:55.470 --> 00:38:58.313
most prominent businessmen in Sydney.
824
00:38:59.447 --> 00:39:03.180
So he started the Lung Shan Tea Room,
825
00:39:03.180 --> 00:39:04.923
in 1889.
826
00:39:06.090 --> 00:39:09.123
And then later had,
827
00:39:10.360 --> 00:39:14.080
an enormously expensive tea room,
828
00:39:14.080 --> 00:39:17.430
in the Queen Victoria Building as well,
829
00:39:17.430 --> 00:39:18.903
the Queen Victoria Market.
830
00:39:20.260 --> 00:39:21.973
To take this portrait,
831
00:39:23.520 --> 00:39:24.870
to examine further,
832
00:39:24.870 --> 00:39:27.223
I suppose the iconography in this portrait.
833
00:39:28.490 --> 00:39:32.150
There are quite a lot of photographs of Quong around,
834
00:39:32.150 --> 00:39:34.250
because he was such a prominent figure.
835
00:39:34.250 --> 00:39:38.240
So the silhouettes based on those portraits,
836
00:39:38.240 --> 00:39:40.600
but there's some symbolism here,
837
00:39:40.600 --> 00:39:43.180
a little bit like the Ruth Cracknel one.
838
00:39:43.180 --> 00:39:48.180
So what you have is a red silk cotton tree flower,
839
00:39:49.130 --> 00:39:50.920
that's the flower at the top.
840
00:39:50.920 --> 00:39:53.380
And that's the flower that,
841
00:39:53.380 --> 00:39:57.860
is the official emblem of Guangdong Province,
842
00:39:57.860 --> 00:40:00.860
where Quong originally came from.
843
00:40:00.860 --> 00:40:05.860
And it's also the origin of the paper cutting technique,
844
00:40:05.960 --> 00:40:09.400
that Parmela See is using to make these portraits,
845
00:40:09.400 --> 00:40:12.480
so there's that beautiful double connection there.
846
00:40:12.480 --> 00:40:16.370
The peacock feather was part of the symbolism,
847
00:40:16.370 --> 00:40:18.560
around one of the honours that was bestowed
848
00:40:18.560 --> 00:40:20.620
upon Quong by China,
849
00:40:20.620 --> 00:40:24.910
for his connections that he made between China and Australia
850
00:40:25.980 --> 00:40:29.780
particularly in terms of being a liaison,
851
00:40:29.780 --> 00:40:31.483
for the first Chinese mission,
852
00:40:34.646 --> 00:40:36.560
to Sydney, to Australia.
853
00:40:36.560 --> 00:40:39.860
And he received multiple honours,
854
00:40:39.860 --> 00:40:41.780
but the peacock feather was sort of
855
00:40:41.780 --> 00:40:44.500
part of the fourth tier of those honours
856
00:40:44.500 --> 00:40:46.960
without going into the enormous detail.
857
00:40:46.960 --> 00:40:51.530
But it's actually like a beautiful way of representing,
858
00:40:51.530 --> 00:40:56.343
all of those parts of his identity in this really,
859
00:40:57.853 --> 00:41:01.720
as part of this set of silhouettes.
860
00:41:01.720 --> 00:41:04.250
So I'm glad we got a chance to talk about Quong
861
00:41:04.250 --> 00:41:08.820
and yes, his main residence in Sydney was in Ashfield
862
00:41:08.820 --> 00:41:11.250
and Bee Miles was born there,
863
00:41:11.250 --> 00:41:13.860
so, that's the connection to Quong.
864
00:41:13.860 --> 00:41:17.440
How are we going for time dear, do we have one more?
865
00:41:17.440 --> 00:41:19.960
We have probably have time for one more,
866
00:41:19.960 --> 00:41:24.200
little jumping its journey, don't we?
867
00:41:24.200 --> 00:41:27.680
Sounds good, do you have a particular fork in the road
868
00:41:27.680 --> 00:41:30.113
that we jumped off that you'd like to feature?
869
00:41:31.770 --> 00:41:32.603
Well,
870
00:41:34.360 --> 00:41:35.560
yeah let's have a little look,
871
00:41:35.560 --> 00:41:38.210
since we've done showbiz, right?
872
00:41:38.210 --> 00:41:40.340
Let's have a look at Bob and Dolly Dyer.
873
00:41:40.340 --> 00:41:41.173
Yeah that's have a look at Bob and Dolly.
874
00:41:41.173 --> 00:41:43.714
Haters you just stay, bring up Bob and Dolly there.
875
00:41:45.050 --> 00:41:47.383
And then we'll circle all the way back.
876
00:41:50.934 --> 00:41:52.280
There they are.
877
00:41:52.280 --> 00:41:53.830
There we are.
878
00:41:53.830 --> 00:41:57.183 line:15%
So just as we started with Hugh in theatre.
879
00:41:59.610 --> 00:42:02.710 line:15%
Oh and then Reg Livermore,
880
00:42:02.710 --> 00:42:04.930 line:15%
we get Bob and Dolly Dyer.
881
00:42:04.930 --> 00:42:07.270 line:15%
So this was the fork in the road that we didn't take,
882
00:42:07.270 --> 00:42:09.330 line:15%
when we were connecting to the Reg Livermore.
883
00:42:09.330 --> 00:42:13.260 line:15%
So his connection to these two and again,
884
00:42:13.260 --> 00:42:15.410 line:15%
we've got some really classic television,
885
00:42:15.410 --> 00:42:17.463
coming up in this programme this time.
886
00:42:19.290 --> 00:42:22.210
They met at the Tivoli, so they were a bit earlier,
887
00:42:22.210 --> 00:42:26.400
than Reg's time at the Tivoli, so they are in 1940.
888
00:42:26.400 --> 00:42:29.610
So Bob Dyer had this, he was from Tennessee
889
00:42:29.610 --> 00:42:33.030
and he had this HillBilly Banjo playing act
890
00:42:33.030 --> 00:42:34.230
and Dolly was a showgirl
891
00:42:35.170 --> 00:42:38.460
and they met in a doorway at the Tivoli.
892
00:42:38.460 --> 00:42:40.520
And two weeks later they got married
893
00:42:41.800 --> 00:42:43.760
and that was the journey to becoming
894
00:42:43.760 --> 00:42:47.233
one of the most iconic couples of Australian Television,
895
00:42:49.038 --> 00:42:50.280
via radio.
896
00:42:50.280 --> 00:42:54.220
So in 1948, they started Pick a Box,
897
00:42:54.220 --> 00:42:59.220
on the radio and it transferred to television in 1957
898
00:42:59.520 --> 00:43:02.390
and continued there for 23 years.
899
00:43:02.390 --> 00:43:06.770
So, that particular programme and this couple,
900
00:43:06.770 --> 00:43:09.357
definitely along with,
901
00:43:09.357 --> 00:43:11.340
"A cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down",
902
00:43:11.340 --> 00:43:13.410
one of those things that's really embedded
903
00:43:13.410 --> 00:43:15.500
in Australian popular culture.
904
00:43:15.500 --> 00:43:17.021
And again we have another Logie,
905
00:43:17.021 --> 00:43:20.640
it's Logie villed here in this programme today,
906
00:43:20.640 --> 00:43:22.853
so, they're clutching their Logie,
907
00:43:23.980 --> 00:43:25.810
which I think, this is undated.
908
00:43:25.810 --> 00:43:28.680
So it's probably from around 1971,
909
00:43:28.680 --> 00:43:30.430
when they received a special Logie,
910
00:43:31.310 --> 00:43:34.200
for their achievements on Australian television,
911
00:43:34.200 --> 00:43:38.370
this portraits by the superlative Ern McQuillan,
912
00:43:38.370 --> 00:43:42.900
who was a photo journalist through in Sydney
913
00:43:42.900 --> 00:43:46.210
and around Australia for a good many years
914
00:43:46.210 --> 00:43:50.290
and these beautiful portraits,
915
00:43:50.290 --> 00:43:53.500
of Australian entertainment
916
00:43:53.500 --> 00:43:56.280
and sporting heroes,
917
00:43:56.280 --> 00:43:57.500
are one of the greatest parts,
918
00:43:57.500 --> 00:43:59.570
of the Portrait Gallery Collection.
919
00:43:59.570 --> 00:44:01.230
But Bob and Dolly there you go,
920
00:44:01.230 --> 00:44:02.640
what a lovely place to end,
921
00:44:02.640 --> 00:44:04.734
with the smiles of Bob and Dolly Dyer.
922
00:44:04.734 --> 00:44:05.600
(laughs)
923
00:44:05.600 --> 00:44:07.903
And I think that's probably where we've gone.
924
00:44:08.810 --> 00:44:11.210
I think we got Six Degrees of Hugh Jackman in there
925
00:44:11.210 --> 00:44:12.620
in the end, didn't we?
926
00:44:12.620 --> 00:44:15.660
Oh, absolutely, we probably had a few more,
927
00:44:15.660 --> 00:44:16.960
thank you so much Penny,
928
00:44:16.960 --> 00:44:18.950
for taking us on yet another journey,
929
00:44:18.950 --> 00:44:21.160
through the various convoluted connections
930
00:44:22.300 --> 00:44:24.010
that we find in the Portrait Gallery.
931
00:44:24.010 --> 00:44:25.260
It's always been one of the most,
932
00:44:25.260 --> 00:44:27.350
the things that I've been most passionate about,
933
00:44:27.350 --> 00:44:29.500
working in the digital section here at the Portrait Gallery,
934
00:44:29.500 --> 00:44:32.950
is the connections that we can make our collection.
935
00:44:32.950 --> 00:44:34.560
People get people and it's like always,
936
00:44:34.560 --> 00:44:36.360
like a spider web of personalities
937
00:44:36.360 --> 00:44:37.710
that link to other personalities,
938
00:44:37.710 --> 00:44:40.470
so thank you Penny for bringing some of those,
939
00:44:40.470 --> 00:44:44.030
linkages and connections to life in these programmes,
940
00:44:44.030 --> 00:44:46.880
that we've been exploring over the last few months.
941
00:44:46.880 --> 00:44:48.830
If you'd like to check out our website, portrait.gov.au,
942
00:44:48.830 --> 00:44:51.090
there's a whole lot of other online
943
00:44:51.090 --> 00:44:54.690
and now in-person, in real life programmes,
944
00:44:54.690 --> 00:44:56.360
that you can explore.
945
00:44:56.360 --> 00:44:58.520
If you would like to join us next Tuesday
946
00:44:58.520 --> 00:45:00.070
for our virtual highlights tour,
947
00:45:00.070 --> 00:45:03.440
we have an Oz land and closed caption programme.
948
00:45:03.440 --> 00:45:05.070
That's all to do with bobbles and blings,
949
00:45:05.070 --> 00:45:07.460
so don't miss that one.
950
00:45:07.460 --> 00:45:10.850
One of our learning facilitators has trolled the collection,
951
00:45:10.850 --> 00:45:13.690
for all of the beautiful jewels and adornments
952
00:45:13.690 --> 00:45:15.240
that people in portraits are wearing
953
00:45:15.240 --> 00:45:18.390
and it's a very good Christmasy feel programme,
954
00:45:18.390 --> 00:45:20.070
for next Tuesday.
955
00:45:20.070 --> 00:45:24.500
What I'd also like to plug as conclusion to this programme,
956
00:45:24.500 --> 00:45:27.120
is the fact that we've got quite a lot of the recordings,
957
00:45:27.120 --> 00:45:29.860
particularly from our Thursday programmes up on our website.
958
00:45:29.860 --> 00:45:32.430
So if you've missed any of our Thursday programmes,
959
00:45:32.430 --> 00:45:37.400
please jump on portrait.gov.au/watch
960
00:45:37.400 --> 00:45:38.870
and you'll be able to catch up on,
961
00:45:38.870 --> 00:45:40.590
all of the different programmes that we've been running,
962
00:45:40.590 --> 00:45:42.240
over the last few months.
963
00:45:42.240 --> 00:45:44.150
Thank you so much to everybody for joining us.
964
00:45:44.150 --> 00:45:47.140
Once again, it's been terrific to see all your faces
965
00:45:47.140 --> 00:45:50.020
and I hope you'll join us online again soon.
966
00:45:50.020 --> 00:45:51.943
Thank you so much, see you, bye bye.