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Nicholas Harding

Over the years the young Nicholas Harding got his hands on various mice and guinea pigs, but they served mainly to illustrate the concept of mortality. 

Ken Done

With a mum who was married to a tradie, you’d think it a fair chance that the baby Jesus would have grown up with a dog in the house.

All the way with K of K

Sarah Engledow bristles at the biographers’ neglect of Kitchener’s antipodean intervention.

Out of the blocks

Dawn Fraser, Lionel Rose, Shane Gould and Cathy Freeman

Sideshow Alley

Death masks, post-mortem drawings and other spooky and disquieting portraits... Come and see how portraits of infamous Australians were used in the 19th century.

The Waxworks

Waxworks were among the various types of entertainment venue to emerge in Australian cities in the mid-nineteenth century. 

Brains trust

Eminent doctors and scientists have for more than a century consistently caused our nation to punch far above her weight.

The Sculling Match at Sydney for the Championship of the World, 1877

Purchased 2015

About Face

From punchy short pieces to longer form leanings, it's the place to come for a frequent fix of the world's most accessible art form.

Melanie Faith Dove

I had been watching Agnes with intrigue, her face and profile were so mesmerizing. On our final day together I pulled her aside and convinced her that she had such an amazing face that I needed to get a photograph for myself. It was very spontaneous in that I decided quickly how it would best look and shot it in only two frames.

Seeing stars

Joanna Gilmour explores photographic depictions of Aboriginal sportsmen including Lionel Rose, Dave Sands, Jerry Jerome and Douglas Nicholls.

Mojsze Preisz, 2011

Barton and Watson, 1902

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012

The Seekers reunite 50 years on, 2011

Gift of Judith Durham, Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley 2012. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Les Darcy, c. 1916

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010

Lovingly observed

Sarah Engledow previews the beguiling summer exhibition, Idle hours.