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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.

Saide, R.Y.S. (Charles Gibson Millar)

1894
Sir Leslie Ward, Vincent Brooks, Day & Son (lithographer) and Vanity Fair Magazine (publisher)

from the series ‘Vanity Fair’
chromolithograph on paper (sheet: 38.0 cm x 25.0 cm)

Charles Gibson Millar (1839–1900), entrepreneur, was engaged in various industrial and agricultural ventures in Australia in the nineteenth century. With his brother, he owned the Great Southern Railway Company, and according to the issue of Vanity Fair in which this portrait appeared was thus responsible for ‘many of the chief railways and public works of the Australian mainland’. ‘He owns railways, tramways, gold mines, sheep runs, timber forests, vineyards and other properties’, the article stated. Millar was among the investors who founded Gold Estates Australia Ltd following the discovery of gold in Western Australia, and around the same time he established Karri and Jarrah Forests Ltd, a company with vast holdings in the south of the state. A member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, Millar skippered his yacht Saide on many adventures, making him someone who ‘knows most seas, [and] is as much at home among the cannibals of the Southern Pacific as he is as the chief guest at a big dinner’. Millar died in the Canary Islands in February 1900 and was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery, leaving an estate valued at £99,000.

Purchased 2015

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

Sir Leslie Ward (age 43 in 1894)

Vincent Brooks, Day & Son

Vanity Fair Magazine

Charles Gibson Millar (age 55 in 1894)

Subject professions

Business, trades and industry

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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.

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