My Awesome Australian

Hi everyone, my name's Abby. I just work here at the National Portrait Gallery. I'm so excited to be here with you today, all for the opening of the My Awesome Australian Exhibition. But just before we begin, I want to acknowledge the land that the National Portrait Gallery stands on and that I have the privilege of living, working, and creating on. So this is the land of the Ngunnawal and the Ngambri people. And I just want to acknowledge their elders, past and present. And I really want to extend my acknowledgement as well to the traditional owners of the land that all of you are on and invite you to do the same.

And so today, we're here to celebrate a bunch of different awesome people. So there's the awesome people that our artists have chosen to recognise, but also the awesome talents of those artists. And this recognition of different awesome Australians comes as a celebration of a way that we've celebrated awesome Australians for the last 50 years. So that's the Australian honour system. And so today I'm joined by someone with lots of experience celebrating the amazing work done by Australians and that is Her Excellency, the Honourable Ms. Sam Mostyn AC Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia.

Hi, Abby. Hi, how are you? Very well. It's great to be here. Yeah, welcome. Thank you. Hello, everyone. Abby's told you why I'm here. told you why I'm here, I think. And I think it's easier, rather than thinking me as Governor General or Her Excellency, that you just call me GG Sam. And I'm so happy that I'm here with you and Abby during National Children's Week. To see your art, I love learning about what and who is inspiring you. And it's your thoughts, it's your ideas and all your care and creativity. That's what shapes who we're going to choose to be as a nation, who are the people that define who we are. So I can't wait to see what you'll do. I'm also here because I was asked to show share with you a little bit about what I do as your Governor General. What it means is that I am the King's representative here in Australia, although Governors General are chosen by the Australian Prime Minister. So the Prime Minister chooses the Governor General. They then recommend that person to the King and the King appoint. So I was appointed by the King and I exercised all the powers of the Crown through our Constitution here in Australia, advised by the Australian Government, the senior ministers and the Prime Minister. Now, Governors General are responsible for performing duties under four Cs. And the four Cs that I'm responsible for, and you can look these up a bit later if you want to know more, but I am responsible for constitutional matters, I perform ceremonial duties, I have a very strong community role, and I am commander-in-chief of the Australian Defence Force.

Now, one of the things that I do in my ceremonial duties is perform a first, function known as the Chancellor of the Order of Australia. That is our national formal award system. This year, I think as Abby has already mentioned, the Australian honours system turns 50. It's our 50th birthday. They started in 1975. So it's a perfect time for us to reflect on the exceptional people who make our community stronger and kinder, more connected through all of their contributions, their achievements, and often their selfless service. This system was designed so that anyone in the community can nominate someone else who they believe should be honoured. People they think are exceptional in doing work that Australians should pay attention to. It's a wonderful system, but I do encourage people to nominate people who they really admire. Today, though, I'm really looking forward, together with Abby, to seeing what you've created, who you've created, who do you find inspiring, who do you think we should be celebrating, and how do you use your talents and your ideas to celebrate them. And I really want to thank you as your Governor General, I want to thank you for sharing with me and with the rest of the country, Australia, that you see through your eyes. Amazing. Yeah, I'm so excited to get started as well, GG Sam. So obviously it's a super exciting day to celebrate the launch, but what exactly are we going to be doing? So today, I'm really excited. We're going to be looking together, GG Sam and I, and all of you, to a small selection of the nearly 500 My Autumn Australian Artworks that were selected, that were, that were, submitted and that we're then selected to be as part of our online exhibition.

But also at the same time, I really want to do some art and creating activities together and that you can extend, GG Sam and I will be doing it here, and then we'd love for you to be also extending that and to be doing that in your classrooms or at home. All you need is paper and pencils to do this. We'll be using Sharpies just so that you can see what we're doing, but anything that you have is perfectly fine. teachers or guardians, friends, if you have any photos, if your classrooms or your homes as you're participating in this super special launch, we'd love it if you could send them to us. And if you have any comments from your students or from yourself, feel free to put them in the chat for us to see. We'd love to hear from you. We have chat moderators, and so the other participants won't be able to see the comments that you make, but we'll be able to see it. So so excited to hear from you and hear what you're thinking today. This is going to be great. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Great. So before we start looking at any artwork, though, I really want to maybe start with an activity for us to do. Because here at the Portrait Gallery, we always like to think, you know, we're going to be doing a lot of looking. But one of the best ways to look at something is to draw it, to use our hands. And so the technique that we're going to be using today is called blind contour drawing. And it's where you look, So it's where you do a drawing without looking at your paper at all. And without also lifting your pen from your paper either. So we're keeping our pens on the paper and keeping our eyes off of it. Because it doesn't really matter. Like often, I think sometimes it's hard to be like, everything needs to be perfect. But this is about looking, about looking at each other, looking at the world around you and doing some drawing as well.

So if you could pair up with someone else nearby and then if you're joining from home and there's if if you're joining us from home and you don't have someone to pair up with, you can always choose an object that you're interested in as well and that you can see. Then we want you to draw your partners or your objects portrait. Everyone got a partner. How are we feeling? I think you're my partner. Yes. Yeah, perfect. We're ready to go. So if I'll give everyone a little bit of time to just find a partner, but just remember keep your pencils on. the page and keep your eyes up the whole time. Great. So I think we're ready to go. All right. I'll grab my pen. Grab my Sharpie. We're ready to go. Yes. And so remember we're keeping our eyes on each other. This is what it's all about. I look at you. I take my pen and I start and I can't lift my pen. Don't lift your pen. So we're just going to draw and we're just going to do this for about 30 seconds. All right everyone 30 seconds on the clock. You ready? Yep. Let's go. I know. I feel like I'm going almost too slowly. I forget we've only got 30 seconds. seconds. I'm kind of thinking, I'm trying to get this right, but I think I might have got my proportions not so great. Oh dear. No, that's fine. I feel like I'm getting a really good look at you though. And that's what's a really great. Loving jewellery. I'm trying to work out how I might get that. Oh, I've lived it. Oh, dear. That's not good. Okay, five, four, three, two, one. Oh, dear. Oh, perfect. Well, amazing. Well, I didn't get the tree. I tried to get your glasses. Oh, yeah. Let's show everyone what we're going up to. Perfect. There we go. Perfect. There we go. Great. Oh, I can see the earring. I think it looks. I know it's true because it's got your earring to a cherry ear. Yeah, yeah, perfect. I hope everyone can see. I try to do your glasses. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I think. I think it's perfect. I like the real fluid movement in yours. You kept moving. I sort of, I was moving quite slowly. Yeah. So I didn't get back up and I lost my way. Yeah, your swap. But that's, it's, it's, it's, everyone does it in a different way, and everyone draws in a different way. So if everyone with us today, if you want to send in your drawings too, we'd love to see them. That'd be so great. Perfect. And I hope that went well for everyone. I hope you had a lot of fun, looking carefully, drawing carefully. Yeah, that was amazing. Thank you so much. I love my porch. Yes, I'm going to give that to you. Yeah, perfect. We can do a swap. Amazing. Perfect. Okay, great.

And so now, now that we've done some drawing, we're in the right head space. We're feeling good. I'm really excited now to look at some of our first portraits. Yes. Portraits. So we're going to move, we've had so many entries, like I was saying before, we've had to sort of separate all of our entries into different segments. So almost 500. Almost 500. Yeah. It's amazing. Everyone's been doing such incredible work and I'm so excited to see it with you. Yeah, it'll be great.

So we're going to be looking at people in this first segment that have drawn their family members, which is really lovely. They're often. I'm the most awesome people, I think. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree. So we've got lots of different family members, but let's start with our first one. So excited. Wow. Perfect. Amazing. So here. George. Yeah, Baby George. That's so lovely. Baby George by Ewan. And we've also got, Ewan has given Baby George an award, which is so lovely. says he would award him first place for best brother. I wonder, I think Ewan's probably one of the best older brothers, if this is baby George. Yeah, that's true. Wonderful portrait. So lovely. Great, let's have a look at another one. Oh, wow. This is Giggly Hoops Hero by Freya. I wonder, it seems like maybe this, our Giggly Hoops Hero really likes basketball, maybe. You can see a lot of basketball there. Oh, it's a beautiful point. portrait. A future superstar. We'll keep an eye out for you, Maddox. Amazing.

And another one here. Another sister. Best sister ever. This is my sister Ellie. And I hope I'm pronouncing that right Ellie by Lockie. And he would give her the best in the West award because they live in Western New South Wales. What a great award to win. I'm loving these categories, particularly from brothers and sisters to each other. Yeah, that's incredible. And I love these, the beautiful sky you've drawn here, Locky. It's really great. It's gorgeous. Yeah. Another one here.

Oh, so we've been looking at some siblings, but now we've got here, Dad, by Gemma. And the award that Gemma would give her dad is the Master Storyteller Award. I love that says that his ability to teach important lessons in each story. Yeah. Look at the quality of this portrait, though. That is amazing. The style of the colours. And yet we can see, we can see Gemma's dad. face very, oh, it's really, it's a beautiful portrait. Yeah. Let's go, let's have a look at another portrait. So this is actually not a drawn portrait. This is a three-dimensional. Yes. Sculpture. Yeah. Alex is Jari's uncle. Oh, that's so nice. And look, he's a face surgeon. So to create a three-dimensional sculpture of a face for a face surgeon. It seems to be a really beautiful tribute to him and a gold trophy for her, the appreciation for Alex. Done a great job there, Jari. That's beautiful. And she's named this portrait, Cerebrum Flores. And so we've got the flowers here coming out of Freya, of Adeline's mum's... And look at that description, the most magical, endearing, caring human being on this earth. And she says... Adeline says she did the portrait, because moms often go unnoticed and appreciated for their efforts and raising their child. Well, I'm a mum, and that's so lovely. And I think, my daughter thinks a lot about the roles of mums too. So I've, but this is so beautiful, Adeline. There's so much going on in this portrait. So Adeline said that the award would be an award of care. And when I became GG, I said that I'd put care and kindness and respect to the centre of everything I do as Governor General. So when I see someone does a portrait around care, the award of care, that is extra special. That's gorgeous. That's so incredible. It's beautiful. So what's next?

We've got here, Rainbow Mum by Maya. And the award that Maya would give her mum is the neurosparkly Award because she's someone that Maya looks up to. And look, I think she says, my mum is special because she's autistic just like me. So neurodiverse people, neurodiverse families, and so beautifully captured by Maya with those colours, is so beautiful, so full of love. Yeah. Yeah, it's so creative. Yeah, it's so lovely. Thanks, Maya. Amazing. Oh, we've got another mummy here by Ginny, My Awesome Australian. So it would be the respectful person award for her kindness and working to make the world a more peaceful place. And Jenny says, that's why my mum is my awesome Australian. That is beautiful. Yeah. Really beautiful. So lovely. It's incredible. The talent of all of these. Yes, yes. Exactly. It's so exciting to see. The gallery is going to be very lucky to have this. Yes. Yeah. exhibition. Yeah, absolutely. So Clover here has made a portrait of Dr. H. Another mum. That's so nice. And it's all about Clover's mom's relationship with horses and she would give her mum the horse vet of the century award. What a great. Beautiful. Yeah. Obviously the horse right behind Dr. H there. That is. That's so clever. Yeah, so clever, so creative. Oh, it's so exciting to see all the different ways that people are approaching making your portraits. That's gorgeous. That's so great.

And now we've got a grandma here by George. This is Grandma Dot. And George says that his grandma deserves the best Grandma in the world award. It's for that love. And such a great talent for animation. It looks like here. Yeah. Absolutely. That's a wonderful take on grandma. Yeah. And my dot. And I love your grandma's big heart, George. That's so important. That's so lovely. It's beautiful. Thank you. So we were just looking at a grandma. Now we've got a grandpa, My Pop Joe, by Alby. And Alby says if there was one award that he would give, it's the best great grandpa ever because he's kind-hearted, funny and understanding. And Albi seems to have kept to something about that lovely kindness, in the softness of the face and the eyes and that beautiful, soft colour. But he does look like he'd be very understanding. And he said, and he says, and And how he says, he's funny too. What a beautiful tribute. Perfect. Oh, that's so lovely. And that's about it for our family portraits of portraits of family members. Thank you so much for everyone.

We'll be moving on to our next activity now. Okay, amazing. So if everyone's ready, we're going to do our next activity, which is called shape starter. Everyone excited to draw again? I sure am. Yeah, amazing. That's so exciting. So what we're going to do with shape starter. Because sometimes, I don't know, I love to draw, but sometimes I find it a bit hard to know where to start, because there's so many things that I want to draw. So we're going to use our hands and our bodies to get a bit of inspiration for what to draw with this activity. So what I want everyone to do is to make a shape with your hand. So you can make a C or you can make a claw and you can make a little ball, whatever you want to do. I think I'm going to do this as my shape. And then what I want everyone to do is then you can trace around your hand. So I might start and do an example of tracing that. So I've got my hands here and then I'm going to just trace around to create my starting shape. I'm going to go like this. It doesn't have to be, it can be nice and loose or you could follow your hand really closely. It's up to you. Okay, great. Now I've got my starting shape, and then what I'm going to do, and I'm going to ask everyone else to do, is to fill in and create, start your drawing here and take inspiration wherever you go. So do you want to? Yeah, so it doesn't look like a hand. You're just using it as a, as a pot. Is it an inspiration? Yeah, absolutely. All right. I'm going to give this a go. Okay, let me see. I think I might do this. Oh, but. Great. Amazing. Perfect. Okay. So now that we've got our starting shape, maybe GG Sam and I, we just take a couple of seconds to do a little drawing and see where the drawing takes us with our starting shape. Okay. And if everyone else wants to do the same and follow along with us, you can. How much time are you giving us this time? I think maybe we'll keep it super quick again. Maybe about 30 seconds again. All right. Okay. Perfect.

Ready? Let's go. Going. Oh, wow. I like the eyes that we've got going on over here for you. Yeah. It's great. Three, two, one. Perfect. Amazing. Wow. Beautiful. What have you done here? Well, I thought it looked like a bit like a slug. So I was trying to do a slug that was slimy across the thing. And then I thought maybe it could be like a cicada coming out of its shell. So then I added a few kind of cicada wings and we're just trying to be a bit funny with the eyes. It's just looked a bit like a tongue or a nose. I wasn't sure. But I love that you just get a shape. Yes. That can throw up anything. So, but tell me about yours. Well, what I've got here. here is I turned my shape. I thought it looked a bit like the top of a tree. So I've turned, I've got some apples. I love apples. I've got an apple tree. And then I've got, I put an extra branch here down the bottom coming off the trunk for a little swing so we could maybe play together in that tree. So it's perfect. I've never thought about starting a shape, just using a shadow wall, your hand without actually turning into a hand. Yeah. That's very cool. It's very fun. I mean, and it's great because, I mean, we're all about people here and portraits at the gallery, but it's such a great place to to start to move into anything and talk about anything. So it's super exciting.

So I'll encourage everyone else if you want to keep working on your drawings while we have a look at some more amazing portraits for the My Awesome Australian that have been submitted to us for My Awesome Australian. And we'll have a look at some more. Yeah. Okay, great. So for our next segment. We also got, so we got lots of submissions of people's families and people that they know personally, but we also got some portraits of people that our artists found inspiring, that are famous Australians that we might all know and have heard of and heard of their stories. It's will be really interesting. Yeah. Who young people believe are famous Australians. Yeah, true. Yeah, I'm very excited about this. Yeah, I'm really excited. I think it's going to be really interesting.

All right, let's have a look at our first one here. The Unbeatable by, I think, Anika, if I'm pronouncing that right. Thanks, Anika. It's amazing. So this is a portrait of the youngest sailor ever to sail around the world, Jessica Watson. This is incredible because I'm old enough to remember when this actually happened. And it's wonderful to be reminded that Jessica Watson did something truly extraordinary, the youngest person ever to sail around the world. And what a beautiful portrait that captures so much, but also about Ella's Pink Lady, which was the sailboat. Yeah, that she's, ah, it's so incredible. And the award that Anika is going to, would give Jessica here is the Resilience Award for saying strong during tough times, which is so important, especially if you're doing something so incredible. It's totally around the world all by yourself. Yeah. Well, thanks for that, Anika.

We'll have another look at a different portrait now. So here we've got Georgia Godwin, Olympic gymnast by Elody. And this is Elody's favourite Australian gymnast. Georgia Godwin. So beautiful. And the award, she suggested, is an inspiring sportswoman. And I think when you think about who does inspire us, particularly for girls and boys in sport, when you see someone like Georgia. Amazing. Thanks Elody. So our next portrait here, this is by Ray. And the person that Ray has chosen to depict in this portrait is David Unaipon. Amazing. This is a remarkable portrait because David Unaipon is such an important part of Australia. history. Yes. And as it says, he graces the $50 note. Yes. Portrait of him. But you also said he deserves the Renaissance Award for Innovation and Cultural Legacy. Wow. Well, he's also a First Nations man and a creator and inventor. Yes. I think what a beautiful tribute. But I love that one. Yeah. Oh, it's so incredible. And I think you're absolutely right. Bray has captured David in such a beautiful and respectful way. And that's amazing. And just like GG Sam said, David, David Unaipon is on our $50 note. And so if anyone has a $50 note, that means you have a portrait of David Unaipon. And another place that has a portrait of David Unaipon is here. That's right. At the National Portrait Gallery. So if it's okay with everyone, I just want to show you our portrait of David Unaipon, which is here. This is really incredible. I wonder, I feel like I'm seeing the similarities here between the portrait that we were seeing before and this portrait here that's in our collection. I wonder if maybe served as a, bit of an inspiration. How wonderful to have a comparison here in the portrait gallery. Yeah, absolutely. It's so exciting. Oh, wow. This is such an, this is such an incredible portrait. Very different to the other ones that we've just been looking at.

So this is of Kate Miller-Heidke. It's called Kate Miller-Heidke Zero Gravity by Eleanor. I remember when this happened. Well, this. I love the fact that it's actually a free one on a, it looks like it's on a stick. Yes. And can move because this is when Kate performed at the Eurovision song contest and she was way up in the, almost in the sky. She was so high up and she was moving around. This gets that sense of movement. Oh, incredible. Best Australian Singer Award. That's what's been nominated by Eleanor. And I think on the basis of this, you'd have to agree, because there's the microphone just off being held and she's full flight. It's beautiful. What a great. Amazing. Perfect. Thanks, Eleanor.

So here we've got Costa from Gardening Australia. Yep. This is by Marlowe. And Marlowe. And Marlowe has a... named this portrait. Costa is the best with a big exclamation point. Yeah. I love this because I'm a bit of a gardening Australia fan and Costa. Costa just makes everything relevant, but particularly nature and how well we feel in nature. Absolutely. This is gorgeous. This is incredible. And Costa's another person that we actually have really recently welcomed into our collection here at the National Portrait Gallery. So again, I think it's fun. Maybe just to do a quick look, have a quick look at the portrait that's in. our collection. So here we've got a portrait by Rob McCaffie. Costa, it's not ours, it's us. And I think both of these portraits do really capture that, that warmth and personality that Costa has. There's something very similar about the two that both captured, that essence of what Costa cares about and it's us. That is really beautiful.

Just finishing up here with our famous Australians with a bit of a shout out to Moruya High School, who've made... some who have worked together in a really interesting way, becoming almost many artists collectives, created these portraits of different famous Australians. So we're just going to look at a couple different examples from Moruya High School. So this is called Ms. Fashion by Elise, Annalise, Charlie, Kaylee, Leera, Melody and Trinity. I love about this. Jenny, he really introduced Australia to this kind of vibrant colour way back in the 70s. What the group has captured here is, colour my world. That's the award. It's spectacular. Yeah, perfect. And we've got actually another example from Moruya High School. And it's really incredible how the teachers at Moruya High School have incorporated this into their lesson plans. And so we've got another example of Jenny Kee from that same school, from a different artist collective, Hamish and Noah. They just called this one Jenny. And the award that they would give Jenny Kee is Ms. fashion. Incredible. I think when Jenny Kee sees it, she'll be so thrilled at how she's seen through the eyes of these high school students. Yeah. It's really special. Amazing. And these are some really amazing and quite unique portraits, I feel, of Jenny. I think it's a really interesting and really creative, incredible approach that you've taken, Moruya High School. So thank you so much. And we have another pretty unique portrait of Jenny Kee in our collection as well that I'll show everyone really quickly. So this is our portrait of Jenny Kee. I think they've captured similar things. We've got the iconic glasses. Yes. It's a very different approach. And you see her colourful one in the opal about four along. Yeah. I love the fact that she's inside each herself and the big one is her very, very famous jumpers that she had iconic Australian animals and some wattle and eucalypt there. So that's, I can't wait to see that here in the colours. That's gorgeous. Incredible. Amazing.

And yeah, we got so many different portraits of amazing, famous Australians. So it was just really incredible. We'll put up a few here for you now, but thank you so much. It's so interesting to see the different people that have been, that have inspired you and have inspired our artists. These are glorious. I can't wait to see the many, many more that you couldn't show today because these are just exceptional. They are truly amazing Australians. Awesome Australians. Absolutely. Amazing. Okay, awesome. Great, everyone. So we're going to do our final activity now for the day, another drawing activity, but some drawing and some storytelling.

So GG Sam, is going to tell all of us a wonderful story, a nice short little story about something that happened recently in your life. And then we're all going to, while we listen to this story unfold, we can draw each part of the story. So these drawings, there can be a mix of symbols, words, quick sketches, whatever you need to do to capture the essence of the beautiful story that GG Sam is going to be telling us. So everyone, make sure you listen. Listen closely to GG Sam's story and I'm going to draw along with all of you and just let your imagination guide you as your drawing. Amazing. All right, here we go. So one of the things the Governor General gets to do sometimes is to travel the world to represent Australians in countries overseas. Recently, I went to Mongolia on behalf of Australians and I went to the Gobi Desert. And in the Gobi Desert, I was presented with a beautiful gift. It's a camel. Now, in In Mongolia, they are the only part of the world that have camel with two humps. And so they gifted me a camel with two humps. They put a big blue ribbon around her neck and they don't send it back to Australia. They keep it there and they're going to take care of it and send me photos of the two humped camel. But I was told at the time not to try to pat the camel because I did go forward and they have big teeth and they can try to bite you. And then I stepped back. The owner said, don't stand in the back legs because you might get a bit of a kick. And so I had to be very careful around this camel, but it was the most beautiful animal. And I can't wait one day to either go back to the Gobi Desert to see my camel or to see pictures of it as it grows over time. So my story is all about the camels of the Gobi Desert. Wow. Amazing. That's such a beautiful story. Thank you so much for telling us about it. And I have drawn super quick my story map of your story. So I don't know, I've got over here, you traveling the world. as our Governor General. Incredible. And then here, your little present. Perfect. And then we've got the camel with the beautiful. I was so, I love the part where you were talking about the ribbon around the camel's neck. That's amazing. And then I've got the teeth really stuck with me. And they look like the teeth. I've got to say, that's where I saw too. Yeah, perfect. Yeah, absolutely. But freaky. Ah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So big. And then just finishing up with the foot, another dangerous part of the camel. Yeah. And we heard about in your story and then hoping to see some pictures as well at the end. So that's my version of GG Sam's story. We'd love to hear and to see from all of you the drawings that you've all done. Great. Thank you. Amazing. Okay. Great.

So that was so much fun doing our last drawing segment. Feel free to keep adding on to the drawings that you've done to your story map as we continue to look at some more beautiful portraits. So Our next segment that we're going to be looking at is some portraits of teachers. We have lots of portraits of teachers, obviously really important parts of everyone's life. Everyone. Yeah. Absolutely. So let's have a look at our first portrait. So this is called Making Music Magical by Lucy. You can tell straight away, this is a music teacher. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, important. Yeah. How gorgeous. Beautiful. And love the music notes coming out. Incredible work. Thanks, Lucy. Next one we've got here. Oh, beautiful. This is Miss Moore. It's called My Lovely Teachers by Natasha. And the award would be the Sparkly Rainbow Crown Award because she's the best teacher. She makes the school flight rainbows. Well, that picture really indicates that too. Absolutely. Beautiful. Beautiful rainbows there. Thank you, Natasha. Oh, wow. That's so interesting. Kind of reminding me we've got of the desert again, like your story, GG Sam.

So this is my teacher, Ms. Goodlace by Rocco. And she's the one that would get an award because she inspires Rocco not to give up and to reach for his dreams. You can see that. That's really, really magical. Oh, so beautiful. Thanks, Rocco. Wow. Incredible. So this is by Maxine. This is a portrait of Maxine's Taekwondo teacher, Jamie. He's obviously very good because there's lots of medals. It's background. And this is an award for the Best Martial Arts Teacher Award. I think that's, I think that's, I think, Jamie looks like that. Absolutely. Yeah, yet another award for Jamie's collection. Amazing. Perfect. And then here we've got a portrait by Patrick, another teacher, Mrs. Martin. And she's the best, she gets the best teacher ever award because she's the nicest and most wonderful teacher. She looks like she is, and she looks like she wears really cool, bright clothes and always beautiful flowers around her. How gorgeous Patrick. That's so amazing. Thank you. And then here, wow, beautiful.

So this is a portrait. called Blossom of Happiness. And that's a gymnastics teacher. And she's regarded as the best coach ever. And the award will be the most amazing and supportive coach ever. I mean, coaches are so important when you're thinking of your future. That's gorgeous. That's so lovely. Thank you for that. And then here, we've got an art teacher as well. So this is Alida in paint by summer. And Alida would be nominated for the Art Inspires Award, because she's made a real difference in her. students' lives. And you can see that Summer has benefited because her own painting must reflect what's been going on that Alita has taught her. What a beautiful tribute. Thanks, Summer.

Another sculpture, another sculpture. This is by Josephine. This is the River Raji, portrait of Raji. Wow. It's the most kind and caring person in school and the award would be the most encouraging teacher. That's the thing about teachers and you always remember them because they have encouraged. inspired you to be your best self. Yeah, absolutely. That's remarkable. And it's beautiful that this is the portrait of a primary school teacher. And it seems that it shows how, like, teachers that we have, they stay with us all throughout our life. Yeah, absolutely. That was just some of the many portraits we have of teachers. And it was really incredible to look at all of them with you. And so the next category that we're going to look at is some friendships. Some people have made portraits of their friends. Another, like, all these integral people in our lives. It's incredible. So let's have a look at our first friend. This is so amazing. The detail is great.

So this is Zoe. It's called, the name of this portrait is Science Class and it's by Isabel. I'm interested that the science class involves all of those cereals. Yeah. Kik cat cereals. That intrigues me, but she's been awarded the most inspiring people. Oh wow. That's gorgeous. And that's beautiful. And I like that the award or the like what she would get for getting that award is her dream job. That's so exciting. This is Theodore, my friend, by Carlos. And Carlos would give Theodore the funniest friend award. You can see he's a cheeky. Theodore looks cheeky. He always need funny friends that keep you, keep you smiling. Yeah. And then we've got here. Lots of, so Preston Primary School in Victoria, they sent us so many portraits of amazing friends. And it's super interesting because Victoria was actually the state where we got the most entries into the My Awesome Australian. So it's just, I wonder if Preston Primary School played a bit of a role in that because we've got so many lovely friendship portraits from them. I've known students who went to Preston Primary and they have always talked about friends and friendships. So that must be a pretty big part of the school, but just look at this. It's gorgeous. And I love how you can see everyone's difference personalities here. It's beautiful.

And here we've got Hongjin, hoping I'm saying that right. Also goes by Nancy. And this is by Huiji. Sorry, if I'm pronouncing that wrong again. This is called Childhood Dreams. Thanks, Huiji. Amazing. And she would be given a nostalgic award to her if it existed. And it's a combination of realism and stylistic art. And you can see how that effect around the sides. It says so much about that animation. What a beautiful portrait. That's incredible. And that's all the friends that we'll be looking at today are so many, so many beautiful stories there all together. And so the last portraits that we're going to be looking at is the community members, the members of people's community that have contributed to them and their lives. That's really beautiful.

And so the first set of portraits we're going to be looking at have all come from Lord Howe Island Central School. We've got so many entries from them. So let's have a look at some of the community members from them. Wow, beautiful. So lots of different people here, museum staff, school administrator officer, diver, organizer of community events like Sandcastle competitions. And you can see that everyone here lives on an island, I feel like. I've been lucky enough to visit Lord Howe Island many years ago. And that takes me straight back. They are such beautiful evocative portraits and storytelling. Absolutely beautiful. And beautiful. And here we've got by Olive, Chris the lollipop lady. Wow. I remember my lollipop lady from when I was in school as well. It's a really fun. Yes, it's gorgeous. The Safety Hero Award. Yes. Perfect. Really important job, lollipop ladies. And I love how it looks like she's on the job right now. And then here we've got Rika by Elizabeth, who and the award that Elizabeth would give Rika here is the Garden of Life Medal in recognition of her kindness in making other people's lives bloom. And we've got here that beautiful bloom of flowers held by Rika. I think I see some wattle in that bloom. Always one of my favourite. It's like. Oh. Beautiful. So this is called Searching for dry land by Sarah. This is really important because these are from the community, one of the communities was devastated by the floods and those communities went through such hard times. And I love this. This is a former school principal who helped the community by bringing things back to help people, I think, recover. That's such an amazing thing to commemorate and to celebrate in this portrait. Beautiful. And the award that would be given to Neil is Best True Blue Ozzy Award. That's great. Amazing. Thanks, Sarah.

And then here we've got, I think, a vet. This is Ella and Elvis. So a dual portrait. We've got two people here that we're celebrating, both Ella, and her dog Elvis, and this is by Lucia. And Ella is a transplant pharmacist, and Elvis is a staff support dog at the local hospital. Oh, this clearly means a lot to people who visit the hospital. And this award is for Ella to get the Healthcare Hero Excellence Award. We always need someone like that to care for us when we're in hospital and need, you know, going through hard times. That is beautiful. Yeah, absolutely. And while, here we've got, this is a portrait by Brodie of Jesse. And this is Jesse who has been given or would be given the best Farmer Award. You can see all those trucks. Absolutely. Let's Brody drive those trucks on the farm. How cool. Amazing. That's great. Awesome. Oh, wow.

Very cool person here. This is Ron. It's called Flowers Forever by Joshua. The Cotter Road Flower Man. Wow. Oh, so he picks flowers and sells them and he deserves recognition. What a cool looking guy. Yeah, absolutely. That's a great. Awesome. Yeah, love it. So we've got some Canberra locals here. This is by Maya, and this is the founders of Brodburger. I love Brodburger. I haven't been yet. So this means I'm going to go to I think. Absolutely. On Dairy Road. Yeah. And because the award that they would be given is for the best burgers ever. And I can attest to that, Maya. Great Burgers. Well, thanks, Ma. I'm now going to go to Brodburger and try the others. Yeah, perfect. And I do love, it's a great portrait. Beautiful. Incredible. Love the earrings as well. Perfect. Oh, wow. So this is the best vet on earth. The vet Allison by Vera. And look at this. We're now into an embroidery, which is just beautiful. Incredible. It's lovely. Amazing. And the most honourable vet award. That's great. Amazing. Thanks, Vera. This is the last portrait that we're going to be looking at today. This is of Uncle Hilton, and it's by Ernie. So Uncle Hilton is an elder at the school that Ernie goes to. And he teaches everyone at the school Dharawal language. It's amazing. And the award that Ernie would give is the Helping Hand Award because he helps the kids so much. He looks like a very nice man who's doing out a lot and particularly teaching Dharawal language. So important. Yeah. Beautiful. Amazing. Thanks so much for that, Ernie.

And thank you so much, everyone, for your wonderful portraits. Well, thank you so much for everyone for those beautiful portraits of members of your community that have done incredible work and that inspire you. And just thank you to everyone for all the portraits. It's been so much fun seeing them all today. And Abby, thanks for having me along. I have loved every bit of this. I've learned a few new artistic skills, but the portraits are brilliant. I can't wait to see the exhibition and really understand who really are the awesome Australians that are coming from young people. So thanks for having me on. Thank you so much for coming, GG Sam. Really appreciate you. really appreciate everyone that's come along as well today. And I just want to let everyone know that the online exhibition has officially launched today. So you can see your work now live on the website. And you can view the exhibition now by using the link that's on your screen. And we just really love it if you'd want to spread the word about your incredible work and to celebrate this great achievement with your friends and your family and your school community. And just thank you again to everyone for being a part of this really special initiative. You've made my awesome Australian truly awesome. Thanks everyone. Thank you.