Skip to main content
Menu

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

The Gallery’s Acknowledgement of Country, and information on culturally sensitive and restricted content and the use of historic language in the collection can be found here.
type C photograph on paper (sheet: 61.0 cm x 40.9 cm, image: 59.9 cm x 39.9 cm)

Jack Mundey AO (1929–2020), union activist, is credited with preventing the demolition of much of inner Sydney’s built heritage in the 1970s and 1980s. Mundey grew up on a North Queensland farm before moving to Sydney to try out for the Parramatta Rugby League side in 1948. Employed in a factory, he joined the Federated Ironworkers’ Union and then the Communist Party, of which he was later President for some years. In the early 1960s he led the rank and file in action to improve safety and sanitary conditions for workers. As Secretary of the NSW Branch of the Builders’ Labourers’ Federation from 1968 to 1975, he encouraged members to become informed on and involved in broad social movements and international politics. In the four years following the first ‘green ban’ at Kelly’s Bush, Hunters Hill, in the early 1970s, he estimated there were more than 40 such bans imposed by unions, scuttling many millions of dollars’ worth of development on sites with historical or ecological heritage value. A former Patron of the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales and a Living National Treasure, Mundey held two honorary doctorates. Jack Mundey Place in The Rocks, Sydney, is named in his honour.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013
© phra ajahn ekaggata fka terry milligan

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Artist and subject

phra ajahn ekaggata fka terry milligan (age 44 in 1985)

Jack Mundey AO (age 56 in 1985)

Subject professions

Activism

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency