Characteristic of Sir Ivor Hele’s style, this portrait of Dame Nancy Buttfield DBE (1912–2005), the first South Australian woman member of Federal Parliament, demonstrates the artist’s ability to quickly capture the likeness and feeling of a subject, a skill he perfected while an official war artist. Hele’s treatment of the paint, particularly to depict Buttfield’s luxurious fur coat and poised demeanour, combined with the warm palette, captures her strength but also reveals an alluring quality.
The daughter of car industry pioneer Sir Edward Holden, Buttfield’s interest in politics was encouraged by her father, a state parliamentarian, and family friend Robert Menzies. In 1954, she was endorsed as the Liberal Party candidate for Adelaide, unsuccessfully contesting the seat in the federal election that year. When a senate seat fell vacant in 1955, she was elected to parliament as a Liberal senator for South Australia, serving from 1955–65 and again from 1968–74, where she lobbied on issues such as equal pay for women. She was the first female senator to visit the Soviet Union and toured China alone in 1962. After her retirement she served on many boards and made philanthropic contributions to youth and the arts.
Gift of Senator Dame Nancy Buttfield DBE 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© Estate of Ivor Hele
Dame Nancy Buttfield DBE (1 portrait)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
During her time in Australian politics, Dame Nancy Buttfield was an impressive advocate for equality for women and was responsible for ending the marriage bar for women in the Public Service.
Well behaved women seldom make history, as the saying goes, and the National Portrait Gallery, consequently, is full of awesome Australian women who refused to conform to narrow ideas about their place and their worth.
