John Hamilton (b. 1940), journalist and editor, began his career on the West Australian newspaper in 1959, becoming its designated Goldfields Correspondent in Kalgoorlie in 1961. He worked as a feature writer and columnist before moving to the position of Washington Correspondent for the Herald and Weekly Times in the 1970s. Since the early 1980s he has worked as an editor, serving since 1994 as associate editor of the Herald Sun and Herald and Weekly Times in Melbourne. Hamilton won the Walkley Award for Best Reporting in 1967 and 1968 for his reports on bushfires, to which the artist alludes in the background to this portrait.
Meg Padgham studied at East Sydney Technical College and the Meldrum School. She worked as a textile designer in Sydney before coming to Canberra in 1943 to paint Wallace Anderson's scale model of Jordan in World War I for the Australian War Memorial. After moving to Melbourne, she studied portrait painting under Sir William Dargie, and later exhibited works in the Archibald and Portia Geach competitions. After suffering a stroke, she taught herself to paint with her left hand. She has continued to exhibit her work in Perth, where she has lived since 1971.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of John Hamilton 1999
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
© Meg Padgham
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