© National Portrait Gallery 2024
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196
Dupain detective
Magazine article by Johanna McMahon, 2019
Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.
Desperately seeking Sonia
Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2015
Esther Erlich’s portrait of Lady McMahon.
Brothers on farms
Magazine article by Malcolm Robertson, 2011
Malcolm Robertson tells the family history of one of Australia's earliest patrons of the arts, his Scottish born great great great grandfather, William Robertson.
Lust for life
Magazine article, 2008
Celebrated Sydney-based photographer and performer William Yang was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to produce a new performance work that premiered at the opening of the Gallery's new building.
Miscellaneous obsessions
Magazine article by William Yang, 2022
William Yang shares the stories behind his autobiographical self portraits that celebrate his cultural heritage and identity.
Sir William Dargie CBE
Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2003
Sir William Dargie, painter and eight times winner of the Archibald Prize for portraiture, died in Melbourne on July 26, 2003, aged 91.
The house, the horse, the wife and the offspring
Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2009
Joanna Gilmour writes about the portraiture of the colonial artist William Nicholas.
Of beef in burgundy
Magazine article by Angus Trumble, 2017
Angus Trumble reveals the complex technical mastery behind a striking recent acquisition, Henry Bone’s enamel portrait of William Manning.
High & Bligh
Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2008
Joanna Gilmour explores the 1790 portrait of William Bligh by Robert Dodd.
Bill and Ted's excellent portrait.
Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2016
Sarah Engledow on Messrs Dobell and MacMahon and the art of friendship.
The Changing Face of the Scientist
Magazine article by Elizabeth Finlay, 2003
Scientists tend to conjure up images of men in white coats in labs but this is just one stereotype in an evolving history of how we have perceived scientists, and how their profession has been understood over the years.
The Wentworths – Hidden in Plain Sight
Magazine article by Dr Grace Blakeley-Carroll, 2015
Grace Carroll on the gendered world of the Wentworths.
The bright-eyed Mariner
Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2008
A new colonial portrait brings a zealous captain near. 
Picture this...
Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003
This edited version of a speech by Andrew Sayers examines some of the antecedents of the National Portrait Gallery and set out the ideas behind the modern Gallery and its collection.
In the thick of it
Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2010
Projecting the splendour of the empire, and the resolve of its subjects, the bust of William Birdwood keeps a stiff upper lip in the National Portrait Gallery.
The importance of being bearded
Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2012
Joanna Gilmour discovers that the beards of the ill-fated explorers Burke and Wills were as epic as their expedition to traverse Australia from south to north.