© National Portrait Gallery 2025
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196
Graeme Murphy AO
Biography
Graeme Murphy AO (b. 1950), choreographer and dancer, was co-artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company with his wife Janet Vernon AM for three decades.
3 portraits in the collection
John Murphy
Biography
John Murphy, engraver, was born in Ireland and appeared as an engraver in London in about 1778.
1 portrait in the collection
Lionel Murphy QC
Biography
Lionel Murphy QC (1922-1986), High Court judge and Labor politician, grew up in Sydney, studied science and law at Sydney University, was admitted to the Bar in 1947, and became a QC in 1960.
1 portrait in the collection
Janet Vernon AM
Biography
Janet Vernon AM, dancer, met her life and professional partner, Graeme Murphy, at the Australian Ballet School.
1 portrait in the collection
Lady Deborah Vernon Hackett
Biography
Lady Deborah Vernon Hackett (1887–1965) was a mining company director and philanthropist.
1 portrait in the collection
Akira Isogawa
Biography
Akira Isogawa (b. 1964), fashion designer, was born in Kyoto, Japan, and first came to Australia on a working holiday at the age of 21.
2 portraits in the collection
Tom Hughes AO KC
Biography
Hon Thomas Hughes AO KC (1923-2024), lawyer and former politician, was born in Sydney and educated at Riverview before serving in the RAAF during World War 2.
3 portraits in the collection
Stan Coster
Biography
Stan Coster (1930-1997) was one of Australian country music's greatest songwriters.
1 portrait in the collection
Sir Kenneth Gillespie
Biography
Sir Kenneth Gillespie (1929–2010), dancer, teacher and founder of the Tasmanian Ballet, left his native Launceston at age sixteen to join the Borovansky Ballet in Melbourne.
1 portrait in the collection
Steven Heathcote AM
Biography
Steven Heathcote AM (b. 1964), dancer, is The Australian Ballet's longest-serving principal artist from 1987 to 2007.
1 portrait in the collection
Kristian Fredrikson
Biography
Kristian Fredrikson (1940–2005) was a designer for opera, drama, ballet, film and television.
1 portrait in the collection
Nelson Illingworth
Biography
Nelson Illingworth trained in sculpture in England and worked as a modeller at the Royal Doulton potteries for nine years before moving to Australia.
3 portraits in the collection
Clifton Pugh AO
Biography
Clifton Pugh AO was one of Australia’s best-known artists of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and one of its leading advocates for the arts.
12 portraits in the collection
Dame Margaret Scott AC DBE
Biography
Dame Margaret Scott AC DBE (1922-2019) ballerina and teacher, was scarred by her education in a Johannesburg convent boarding school and left her home on a Swaziland farm in 1939.
1 portrait in the collection
Ben Quilty
Biography
Ben Quilty (b. 1973), painter, gained bachelor’s degrees in painting and visual communication at Sydney College of the Arts and the University of Western Sydney.
1 portrait in the collection