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Colin Wills (1906–1965), journalist and author, was born in Toowoomba, Queensland and grew up in Sydney.

1 portrait in the collection

Colin Wills, c. 1940s

Max Dupain OBE

Gift of Danina Dupain Anderson 2021. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Horace Spencer Wills and Cedric Spencer Wills

Horace Spencer Wills and Cedric Spencer Wills, c. 1859

Portrait, 1/2 plate ambrotype with applied colour in a double elliptical brass matt inside a leather case (without lid)

Gift of T S Wills Cooke 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Colin Preece

Colin Preece (1903-1979), winemaker, graduated dux from Roseworthy Agricultural College in 1923 planning to manage the family flour mill.

1 portrait in the collection

Sir Colin Syme AK

Sir Colin Syme AK (1903-1986) was chairman of BHP from 1952 to1971. Born in Perth, he attended Scotch College in Claremont, the universities of Perth and Melbourne and the University of New South Wales before becoming a solicitor in the Melbourne firm of Hedderwick, Fookes and Alston in 1923.

1 portrait in the collection

Colin Lanceley

Colin Lanceley (b. 1938), painter, printmaker and sculptor, arrived in Australia from New Zealand as a baby.

2 portraits in the collection

Colin Friels

Colin Friels (b. 1952) arrived in Australia as an adolescent with his Scottish parents, both blue-collar workers.

1 portrait in the collection

Ed Sheeran

Colin Davidson

Colin Lanceley, 1980s

Max Dupain OBE

Gift of Rex Dupain 2003. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Colin Preece, 1968

Douglass Baglin

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2005

Colin Friels, n.d.

Stuart Campbell

Portrait, oil on canvas laid on composition board

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Stuart Campbell 2012

Sir Colin Syme, 1970

Judy Cassab AO CBE

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of BHP Billiton 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Colin Lanceley, 1992

Greg Weight

Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Colin McCahon, Auckland, New Zealand, 1963 (printed 2000)

David Moore

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2001. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001.

Horatio S. Wills

Horatio Spencer Howe Wills (1811–1861), pastoralist, politician and newspaper proprietor, was born in Sydney, several months after the death of his father, Edward Spencer Wills, a merchant and shipowner who'd arrived in New South Wales under a life sentence for highway robbery in 1799.

2 portraits in the collection

Emily S. Wills

Emily Spencer Wills (1842–1925), Cedric Spencer Wills (1844–1914), Horace Spencer Wills (1847–1928), and Egbert Spencer Wills (1849–1931) the second, third, fourth, and fifth children of Horatio Wills and his wife Elizabeth, were all born at Lexington, spending their childhoods there and at Bellevue, the property acquired by Horatio Wills near Geelong in 1852.

1 portrait in the collection

Horace S. Wills

1 portrait in the collection

Egbert S. Wills

1 portrait in the collection

Cedric S. Wills

1 portrait in the collection

Puddled state, 2008

by David Wills

William John Wills

William John Wills (1834-1861) came to Victoria with his brother in early 1853.

3 portraits in the collection

Thomas Wentworth Wills

Portrait, carte de visite photograph, hand coloured on card

Thomas Wentworth (Tom) Wills (1836–1880), is popularly thought of as the co-inventor of Australian Rules football.

2 portraits in the collection

Egbert Spencer Wills, c. 1870

Wilmot & Key

Gift of T S Wills Cooke 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Horatio Spencer Wills, c. 1870

Wilmot & Key

Portrait, carte de visite photograph

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of T S Wills Cooke 2014
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Thomas Wentworth Wills

In their own words

Colin Madigan and Robert Hughes, Canberra

Colin Madigan and Robert Hughes, Canberra, 1982 (printed 2000)

David Moore

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001

Horatio Spencer Wills, c. 1855

Portrait, 1/6 plate daguerreotype with applied colour in a brass matt in leather case

Gift of T S Wills Cooke 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Emily Spencer Wills, c. 1855

Portrait, 1/6 plate daguerreotype with applied colour in al brass matt (without original leather case)

Gift of T S Wills Cooke 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

William John Wills, c. 1861

De Gruchy & Leigh

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009

Tom Wills, c. 1857 (printed c. 1905-1910)

Portrait, gelatin silver photograph on grey paper on card

Gift of T S Wills Cooke 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Thomas Wentworth Wills, c. 1859

Portrait, 1/2 plate ambrotype with applied colour in a double elliptical brass matt in a leather case

Gift of T S Wills Cooke 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

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.

The Burke and Wills Monument, 1869

Thomas Foster Chuck

Portrait, albumen paper photograph on carte de visite

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

William John Wills, 2nd in command of the Victorian Expedition

William John Wills, 2nd in command of the Victorian Expedition, 1860-1861

Henry Samuel Sadd, Fergusson & Mitchell, Melbourne after Thomas Adams Hill

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2007

Pamela and Colin McPherson

Elizabeth Looker

Of Burke, Wills ... and wills

It's Complicated

Infatuation and (ill-fated) exploration

In conversation with Colin Davidson

by Nicole Katherine Wells

Belfast-based artist, Colin Davidson talks about the fortuitous happenstances that led to him painting a range of famous faces (from Brad Pitt to the Queen, and everyone in between!)

Scarred, 2017

Portrait, lithograph on paper

R O'Hara Burke, c. 1861

De Gruchy & Leigh

Purchased 2009

Thomas Foster Chuck and Son

Thomas Foster Chuck (c. 1826-1898) specialised in photographing well-known colonists, many of whom featured amongst the 700 photographs in his huge mosaic The Explorers and Early Colonists of Victoria.

1 portrait in the collection

Portrait 49

Winter 2015

Magazine

This issue features Jude Rae, Arthur Boyd, Darren McDonald, John Singer Sargent, Tom Wills the 'inventor' of Australian Rules Football and more.

Sir Robert Menzies, c. 1966

Les Tanner

Portrait, cast plaster

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Emeritus Professor Colin A Hughes 2015

Robert O'Hara Burke

Melbourne and Sydney Photographic Co

Robert O'Hara Burke (1821-1861), explorer, came to Australia in 1853 and joined the Victorian police force.

4 portraits in the collection

Robert O'Hara Burke, c. 1860

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2001

David Simpson

Portrait, albumen silver photograph on original lithograph title sheet

David Simpson, photographer, is represented in the Art Gallery of South Australia, his subjects including HM Queen Elizabeth II, Don Bradman, David Gulpilil and Sir Mark and Lady Oliphant.

1 portrait in the collection

Australian Aboriginal Cricketers, 1867

Patrick Dawson

Purchased with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2009

Robert O'Hara Burke, Leader of the Victorian Expedition

Robert O'Hara Burke, Leader of the Victorian Expedition, 1860-1861

Henry Samuel Sadd, Fergusson & Mitchell, Melbourne after Thomas Adams Hill

Portrait, mezzotint on paper

Purchased with funds provided by Ross A Field 2007

Georg von Neumayer, c. 1860

Johnstone & Co

Portraits by Stuart Campbell

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

Between Light and Shadow

Previous exhibition, 2011

The late Australian photographer Stuart Campbell produced superb photographs of Australian actors of stage and screen.

Stuart Campbell

Stuart Campbell, born in Ballarat, became interested in photography as a student at Swinburne Technical College in Melbourne.

10 portraits in the collection

Esther Erlich

Esther Erlich (b. 1955), a Melbourne-based painter, has been exhibiting since the early 1980s, often with the Libby Edwards Galleries in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and the Barry Newton Gallery in Adelaide.

3 portraits in the collection

Sidney Nolan, 1964

Axel Poignant

Purchased 2003

Frederick Woodhouse

Frederick Woodhouse Senior, painter, lithographer and engraver, arrived in Melbourne in 1858 in the Parsee to establish himself as a horse portraitist.

1 portrait in the collection

Joanna Gilmour

Joanna Gilmour is the Curator, Collection & Research at the National Portrait Gallery.

Who's Jo?

Previous exhibition, 2001

Find out about the curator of the exhibition.

2021 Annual Appeal

Annual Appeal

In 2021 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Peter Brew-Bevan's portraits of athletes Turia Pitt, Leisel Jones OAM and Ellie Cole OAM.

Nolan Heads

Nolan Heads will focus on the portraiture of one of Australia's most original painters and one of the few to have achieved an international reputation

Mike Brown

Batchelder & Company Photo

Mike Brown (1938-1997) artist, was a participant (with Ross Crothall and Colin Lanceley) in the 1962 Annandale Imitation Realists exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art and Design, Melbourne.

1 portrait in the collection

Annual Appeal

Listed by year

Honour board

Charles Summers, late 1860s

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Graham Smith 2009

John Longstaff

Portrait, hand-cut acetate stencil, aerosol enamel on canvas

Sir John Longstaff, born in Clunes, Victoria, studied at the NGV school from 1883 to 1887 and thenceforth at Corman's in Paris.

1 portrait in the collection

John Monash, 1919

James Quinn

Portrait, oil on canvas

Gift of John Colin Monash Bennett 2007. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.

Bob Hawke, 2012

Luke Cornish

Purchased 2013

Charles Summers

Charles Summers (1825-1878) was an English born sculptor, who came to Australia in 1852.

2 portraits in the collection

William Robertson, 1866

Thomas Adams Hill

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Portrait of His Excellency Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of Victoria

Portrait of His Excellency Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of Victoria, c. 1864

Thomas Clark

Portrait, oil on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by The Ian Potter Foundation 2007

Judy Davis, 1981

William Yang

Purchased 1998

Maggie Beer AO

Maggie Beer AO (b. 1945) is a cook, restaurateur, businesswoman and media personality.

1 portrait in the collection

Sidney Nolan

Portrait, synthetic polymer paint and red ochre on canvas

Sir Sidney Nolan AC OM CBE (1917–1992) was one of the most original and inventive Australian artists of the postwar decades, and one of few Australian artists to achieve an international reputation in the twentieth century.

7 portraits in the collection

Jack Thompson, 2013

Dr Julie Dowling

Purchased 2015

William H. Bardwell

Portrait, inkjet print on paper

William H. Bardwell, photographer, worked at various premises in Ballarat from 1858 until 1895.

1 portrait in the collection

Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke, c. 1976 (printed 2017)

Robert McFarlane

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2017

Richard Nicoll

Richard Nicoll (1977‒2016), fashion designer, was born in London but spent much of his childhood in Perth.

1 portrait in the collection

Col Joye AM

Col Joye AM (b.1938) (Colin Jacobsen), entertainer and impresario, was the first Australian pop performer to reach number 1 on the local charts.

1 portrait in the collection

Jan Senbergs AM

Magazine article by Dr Christopher Chapman, 2008

Jan Senbergs AM (1939-2024) came to Australia from Latvia in 1950. He studied at the Melbourne School of Printing and Graphic Arts, where he was influenced by Leonard French.

2 portraits in the collection

I'm not there

Christopher Chapman looks at some contemporary portraits that explore the construction of identity.

2014-15 Acquisition Fund

Annual Appeal

Kristin Headlam's portrait of Chris Wallace-Crabbe was acquired with the support of the Circle of Friends in 2014.

Judy Davis

Portrait, inkjet print on paper

Judy Davis (b. 1955), actor, director and two-time Oscar nominee, has won many acting accolades, including eight AACTA awards, three Emmy awards, two BAFTAs and two Golden Globes.

3 portraits in the collection

Jan Senbergs, 2015

Jacqueline Mitelman

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with funds provided by Wayne Williams 2015

Jan Senbergs, 1976

Keith Looby

Portrait, oil on canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Padraic McGuinness 2001
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Ludwig Becker, 1861

Frederick Schoenfeld

Portrait, lithograph on paper

Purchased with funds provided by the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society Canberra 2000

William Strutt

William Strutt arrived in Melbourne in 1850 having undertaken his training in art in Paris in the late 1830s.

1 portrait in the collection

Sidney Nolan, Western Australia, 1962 (printed 2000)

David Moore

Thomas Foster Chuck

Previous exhibition, 2013

Thomas Foster Chuck (1826-1898), photographer and entrepreneur, was born in London and arrived in Victoria in 1861.

4 portraits in the collection

Judy Cassab

The artist's diary

The artist's diary profiles six decades of Cassab's work, from the early portrait commissions of the 1950s to later paintings that have helped confirm her eminent place in the canon of Australian portraiture.

Emile Sherman

Emile Sherman (b. 1972), film producer, graduated from the University of New South Wales before beginning his career with a documentary about his great-great-uncle Chatzkel, a Lithuanian Jew who lived through both world wars and the Bolshevik revolution.

3 portraits in the collection

Graeme Murphy, n.d.

Stuart Campbell

Previous exhibition, 2003

Gift of the Estate of Stuart Campbell 2012

POL

Portrait of a Generation

POL was a magazine that ran from 1969 to 1986

Secure the shadow ere the substance fade

Magazine article by Joanna Gilmour, 2015

The tragic tale of Tom Wills, the ‘inventor’ of Australian Rules Football.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2018

Previous exhibition, 2018

The exhibition is selected from a national field of entries, reflecting the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects.

Through blue eyes

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2009

Works by Arthur Boyd and Sidney Nolan bring the desert, the misty seashore and the hot Monaro plains to exhibition Open Air: Portraits in the landscape.

Matthew Burnett, c. 1865

Henry Samuel Sadd

Portrait, steel engraving on paper

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015

Masters of Fare

Chefs, winemakers, providores

Previous exhibition, 2004

Masters of fare: chefs, winemakers, providores celebrates men and women who have championed the unique culinary characteristics and produce of Australia, enriching our lives with new ideas and new flavours over the past forty years.

William Johnson (1873—1948) by Percy Leason

Recognition

Percy Leason's Aboriginal Portraits

Previous exhibition, 1999

Originally conceived as an anthropological record, Percy Leason’s powerful 1934 portraits of Victorian Aboriginal people are today considered to be a highlight of 20th century Australian portraiture

The Fairfax Gift

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2003

This article examines the portraits gifted to the National Portrait Gallery by Fairfax Holdings in 2003.

National Youth Self Portrait Prize

NYSPP 2009

Previous exhibition, 2009

An annual event, the National Youth Self Portrait Prize seeks to encourage young people to embrace self portraiture and its expressive possibilities.

2020 Annual Appeal

Annual Appeal

In 2020 the Annual Appeal was focussed on Sally Robinson's remarkable portrait of author Tim Winton.

John Flaus

Infamy, the macabre & the portrait

John Flaus (b. 1934) is an Australian broadcaster, actor, script editor and lecturer, known for Mary and Max (2009), Trust Frank (2020) and Tracks (2013).

1 portrait in the collection

Sideshow Alley

Previous exhibition, 2015

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.

Jacki Weaver, 2018

by John Tsiavis

Previous exhibition, 2009

Commissioned with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2018

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009

In its second year at the National Portrait Gallery, and for the first time touring to other venues, the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009 continues to present surprising perspectives on the nature of contemporary portrait photography.

Time and light

In Gallery Seven

Previous exhibition, 2023

This sample of 56 photographs takes in some of the smallest photographs we own and some of the largest, some of the earliest and some of the most recent, as well as multiple photographic processes from daguerreotypes to digital media.

Bob Hawke

The vision of Gordon and Marilyn Darling

Robert James Lee (Bob) Hawke (1929-2019) moved with his family from South Australia to Perth in 1939.

9 portraits in the collection

Uncommon Australians

Previous exhibition, 2015

This exhibition showcases portraits acquired through the generosity of the National Portrait Gallery’s Founding Patrons, L Gordon Darling AC CMG and Marilyn Darling AC.

Tan Le, 2018

by John Tsiavis

Portraits in the Landscape

Commissioned with funds provided by the Sid and Fiona Myer Family Foundation 2018

Open Air

Previous exhibition, 2008

Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them.

Hot Scots

Magazine article by Christopher Baker, 2013

James Holloway describes the first portraits you encounter when entering the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

William Shakespeare, c. 1600-1610 associated with John Taylor

Selected images

Magazine article by Magda Keaney, 2002

Take a peek at a selection of the portraits you can see in the exhibition.

The Final Frontier

Magda Keaney talks with Montalbetti+Campbell about their photographic portrait of Australian astronaut Andy Thomas.

NPPP 2009 exhibition essay

Previous exhibition, 2019

Dr Christopher Chapman, National Photographic Portrait Prize judge and curator, introduces the 2009 Prize.

Primed

Some Prime Ministers

Seventeen of Australia’s thirty prime ministers to date are represented in the contrasting sizes, moods and mediums of these portraits.

Prime Minister Gough Whitlam pours soil into the hand of traditional land owner Vincent Lingiari

A handful of sand

Magazine article by Ellen Kent, 2007

Ellen Kent examines the portrait of Vincent Lingiari and Prime Minister Gough Whitlam taken by photographer Mervyn Bishop.

Portrait Donors

Listed by year

Honour board

In the round

Magazine article by Andrew Sayers AM, 2009

Andrew Sayers outlines the highlights of the National Portrait Gallery's display of portrait sculpture.

Bloodlines

Magazine article by Michelle Fracaro, 2004

Michelle Fracaro describes Lionel Lindsay's woodcut The Jester (self-portrait).

Self Portrait, Stuart Campbell by Stuart Campbell

The essence of you

Magazine article by Lee Tulloch, 2011

Lee Tulloch remembers her great friend NIDA-trained actor turned photographer Stuart Campbell.

Talking heads

About Face article

In their own words lead researcher Louise Maher on the novel project that lets the Gallery’s portraits speak for themselves.

Full time

Magazine article by Alistair McGhie, 2017

Alistair McGhie reminisces about three Australian rugby greats commissioned for the Portrait Gallery collection by Patrick Corrigan AM.

"Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?", 1956

Pop goes the preconception

Magazine article by Paul Moorhouse, 2007

A National Portrait Gallery, London exhibition redefines portraiture, shifting the focus towards a new perspective on Pop Art.

General Birdwood, the Idol of Anzac, taking a dip in the sea after a hard days work 1915

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.

Mental as everything

Magazine article by Diana Warnes, 2006

Chris O'Doherty, also known as Reg Mombassa, is best-known for his Mambo imagery but he also paints a lot of self portraits.

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.

An Australian story

Magazine article by The Hon. Dr Kevin Rudd, 2009

In his speech launching the new National Portrait Gallery building on 3 December 2008, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd set the Gallery in a national and historical context.

The Multifarious Career of George Selth Coppin

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2004

George Selth Coppin (1819-1906) comedian, impresario and entrepreneur, was a driving force of the early Australian theatre.

Some women you may not know

Alison Alder

‘Everybody’s lives are built by so many influences, and for me, it is writers, artists and activists who have influenced how I think about the world.’

First-Class Marksman, 1946 by Sidney Nolan

Money for Myth

Magazine article by Jane Raffan, 2015

Australian character on the market by Jane Raffan.

Flash mob

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2019

Sarah Engledow trains her exacting lens on the nine photographs from 20/20.

A real Pratt

Magazine article by Dr Sarah Engledow, 2015

The death of a gentlewoman is shrouded in mystery, a well-liked governor finds love after sorrow, and two upright men become entangled in the historical record.

The Triumph of Death, c. 1562 by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

The Black Death

About Face article

The best horror stories are real. A flea sinks its proboscis into the skin of a sick black rat, feeds on its blood, and ingests lethally multiplying bacteria.

Some prime ministers