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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.

Ben Chifley

n.d.
Max Dupain OBE

gelatin silver photograph on paper (sheet: 39.0 cm x 31.5 cm, image: 38.5 cm x 31.5 cm)

Max Dupain OBE set up his photography studio in Sydney in 1934. Through the 1930s he took portraits and advertising shots, photographed ballet dancers and musicians for the ABC and gained exposure in the lifestyle magazine The Home. In the 1950s he turned increasingly to architectural photography, and from 1958 to 1973 he documented the construction of the Sydney Opera House. During the same period he began recording historic properties for the National Trust, and Canberra’s new buildings for the NCDC. In 1975 the touring exhibition Max Dupain - A Retrospective 1930-1975 brought Dupain’s name to the attention of the wide public, and turned The Sunbaker, taken nearly 40 years earlier, into a definitive Australian image.

Joseph Benedict Chifley (1885-1951) was the 16th prime minister of Australia, from 1945 to 1949, and the last Labor prime minister before Gough Whitlam. His sudden death in 1951 overshadowed the celebration of the first fifty years of Federation. He lay in state in Kings Hall, Old Parliament House before being buried in Bathurst. Because Ben Chifley, like John Curtin, died in office, few portraits of him exist. The National Portrait Gallery has no portrait of Curtin. Posthumous portraits are not commissioned by the Gallery, and only a handful – including John Webber’s portrait of James Cook, and William Dargie’s portrait of Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm - have ever been acquired.

Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2017. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© Max Dupain/Copyright Agency, 2024

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.

Subject professions

Government and leadership

Donated by

Danina Dupain Anderson (47 portraits)

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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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