Mark Taylor AO (b. 1964) was captain of the Australian cricket team from 1994 until his retirement from Test cricket in 1999. Taylor lived in Wagga Wagga, NSW, before his family moved to Sydney and he joined the Northern District club. He made his Test debut against the West Indies in 1989, and in the same year scored a spectacular 839 runs over the course of the Ashes series in England. His greatest feat with the bat was equalling Sir Donald Bradman's highest Test score of 334, achieved in Pakistan in October 1998 before he declared the innings closed. He retired as our second-highest run scorer, having captained Australia in 50 Tests and having been named by Wisden's as the greatest modern captain. Taylor was Australian of the Year for 1999.
Australian of the Year 1999
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Commissioned with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 1999
© Estate of Bill Leak
The Gordon Darling Foundation (36 portraits supported)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
1 October 2014
This month I turn fifty, soI am just now looking rather more closely than usual at Fiona Foley, Steven Heathcote, Brenda Croft, Russell Crowe, Jeff Fenech, Akira Isogawa, Lee Kernaghan, My Le Thi, Shona Wilson and Mark Taylor AO, mindful that they too were 1964 arrivals.
A portrait story that explores the life and times of legendary Australian cricketer Sir Donald Bradman.
