Founded by act of parliament in 1856, the Gallery had a brief to collect the likenesses of famous British historical figures. In trying to find a way to acknowledge lasting eminence, but exclude ephemeral celebrity, the trustees decided that with the sole exception of the reigning sovereign, subjects included not only had to be dead, but dead for ten years.
Through David Moore's camera we meet many of the outstanding figures of the twentieth century - in diverse areas of achievement - as well as anonymous faces which speak directly to us in these photographs.
Headspace showcases portrait art produced by secondary students from Year 7 to Year 12 in Government, Catholic and Independent schools in Canberra and its surrounding regions extending to Wollongong, Deniliquin, Leeton, Crookwell, Bombala, Narooma and Albury
For Tom Roberts - Australia's best nineteenth-century portrait painter - neither a proto-national portrait gallery nor more popular collections of portrait heads, were sufficient public celebrations for the notables of Australian history
