© National Portrait Gallery 2025
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196
Florrie Forde
Biography
Florrie Forde (1875–1940), singer and music hall performer, was born in Melbourne and was sixteen when she sang publicly for the first time, in Sydney, in late 1891.
9 portraits in the collection
Dame Nellie Melba GBE
Biography
Dame Nellie Melba GBE (1861–1931), world-renowned soprano, was born Helen Porter Mitchell in Melbourne.
8 portraits in the collection
James Donovan
Biography
James T Donovan (1861–1922), journalist, Catholic historian and amateur singer, was born into an Irish Catholic family in Sydney and grew up in Womerah Avenue, Darlinghurst.
1 portrait in the collection
Keith Potger
Biography
The Seekers, folk music band, formed in 1962 when jazz singer Judith Durham met Athol Guy, who sang and played bass in a folk trio with Bruce Woodley and Keith Potger.
3 portraits in the collection
Athol Guy
Biography
The Seekers, folk music band, formed in 1962 when jazz singer Judith Durham met Athol Guy, who sang and played bass in a folk trio with Bruce Woodley and Keith Potger.
3 portraits in the collection
Bruce Woodley
Biography
The Seekers, folk music band, formed in 1962 when jazz singer Judith Durham met Athol Guy, who sang and played bass in a folk trio with Bruce Woodley and Keith Potger.
3 portraits in the collection
Margaret Fulton OAM
Biography
Margaret Fulton (1925-2019), a major figure in developing Australia's appreciation of food, was instrumental in teaching generations of people to cook.
1 portrait in the collection
Grant McLennan
Biography
Grant McLennan and Robert Forster both sang and wrote songs for The Go-Betweens, and McLennan wrote one of their greatest, 'Cattle and Cane', recalling the rural Queensland environment of his youth.
1 portrait in the collection
Marcia Hines
Biography
Marcia Hines (b. 1953) sang in church choirs while growing up in Boston, Massachusetts and had her first solo singing engagement at the age of seven.
1 portrait in the collection
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
Biography
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu (1970–2017), a man of the Gumatj clan of north east Arnhem Land, was born blind but learned to play guitar, keyboard, drums and didgeridoo as a child.
1 portrait in the collection
David Malangi Daymirringu
Biography
David Malangi Daymirringu (1927-1999), Manharrngu, bark painter, printer and designer, was born at Mulanga, near the mouth of the Glyde River, just before Christian missionaries arrived on the nearby island of Milingimbi.
1 portrait in the collection
John Waters
Biography
John Waters (b. 1948), actor, sang with London band the Riots before moving to Australia at the age of twenty.
1 portrait in the collection
Marjorie Lawrence
Biography
Marjorie Lawrence CBE (1907-1979), dramatic soprano, studied singing from 1925 in Melbourne, moving to study with Cécile Gilly in Paris in 1928 after winning the Geelong Sun Aria competition.
2 portraits in the collection
Warumpi Band
Biography
The Warumpi Band burst onto the Australian music scene in 1984 with the release of their first album Big Name, No Blankets.
2 portraits in the collection
Julia Matthews
Biography
Julia Matthews (1842-1876), actress and singer, came to Australia as a girl with her parents, and made her debut at Sydney's Royal Victoria Theatre in 1854, aged twelve.
1 portrait in the collection
Jim Conway
Biography
Jim Conway, harmonica player, composer and music producer, grew up in Melbourne and attended Camberwell High School before beginning his career with the frenetic jug outfit, the Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, in the 1970s.
1 portrait in the collection