Sir Albert Victor Jennings (1897–1993) pioneered mass-produced and mass-marketed housing in Australia. Jennings began selling house and land ‘packages’ on housing estates in 1933. When domestic building was banned during the second world war, he won tenders for war-related structures. During the Menzies era he built government-funded estates in Victoria, Tasmania and Canberra, where his company had built 20% of the houses in place by 1965. Homeowners in Jennings’s ‘residential communities’ were easily satirised, with their uniform prefabricated homes, station wagons and electrical appliances. Nonetheless, Jennings had for the first time made modern luxuries like built-in wardrobes available to the average home buyer. By 1980 it was claimed that the AV Jennings Construction Co had built 80 000 Australian homes that offered ‘millionaire enjoyment for working-class value.’
Kate Gollings embarked on a project in the 1990s to take a 'national snapshot', photographing 100 people who had made a distinctive contribution to Australian society and culture. These photographs were published in the volume australians (1999) and seven of them were acquired by the NPG by gift of Marilyn Darling in 2001.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2001
© Estate of Kate Gollings
Marilyn Darling AC (33 portraits supported)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
This exhibition showcases portraits acquired through the generosity of the National Portrait Gallery’s Founding Patrons, L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC.
Over the last five years the National Portrait Gallery has developed a collection of portrait photographs that reflects both the strength and diversity of Australian achievement as well as the talents of our photographers.
