NSW Greats 6 - Mum Shirl & Doug Nicholls

OK I'm over 10 for NSW, but I'm sorry. Mum Shirl just has to go on the list.  I missed her as I forgot to check my list we brainstormed in the car recently... and to cap it off, I find I'm going to have to allocate Doug Nicholls to NSW...

Mum Shirl 

Mum Shirl worked tirelessly for indigenous people, helping people in trouble with the law, visiting inmates in jail, finding their families, established the first aboriginal medical service, the aboriginal legal service and she was a prominent aboriginal rights activist.  She took in many many kids who had no home to go to and raised them.  This seems a short little entry, but it reflects a very great very loving and strong woman who will and should be remembered by us all for all she contributed.

Doug Nicholls

It is so difficult to allocate Doug Nicholls to one State and may move his listing to a generic Australian list at some point.  Born and raised at Cumeragunja in NSW, he played AFL (Aussie Rules football) for Fitzroy, worked tirelessly for the benefit of indigenous people establishing hostels in Melbourne for aboriginal youths and working as an activist for Aboriginal rights.  he was twice honoured in the Queens birthday honours list and said the MBE stood for "more black than ever".  He became the first Aboriginal Governor of an Australian State - South Australia and is buried at Cumeragunja. 

Doug Nicholls came from a line of activists. His uncle William Cooper was an activist also.  There have always been activists come to that, it's just that the broader society never heard, or perhaps appreciated their courage and strength.  Aboriginal activism is not a new thing.  It's hard really to select one or two or three and seems somehow perverse to select Doug Nicholls because he was honoured by a society that victimised his people.  However, it does say something about the respect with which he was held by the wider community that he was appointed to the Governor's position. 

His autobiography, The Boy from Cumeragunja is worth reading.  A very interesting book.

NSW Greats 5 - Don Bradman, Phar Lap, Slim Dusty and some notables

Don Bradman

The link in the title takes you to the Australian Govt culture and recreation website, with some great accessible information about Don Bradman's life and career, in terms the non-cricket tragic can understand!

Well, what can I add about Don Bradman. He is simply a legend. A dead set legend. Don Bradman embodied everything Australians revere. He was an outstanding sportsman with an outstanding sense of sportsmanship. He was modest. He was strong and principled and stood up to bullies without compromising his principles. He was without a shadow of a doubt the greatest cricket batsman to ever set foot on the cricket pitch and far and away our most loved sports person of all time and I really cannot see that changing. His batting average of 99.94 has even the world's greatest batsman in awe. The best have batting averages not much more than half that. He is the God of cricket and not just to Australians. He was simply awesome!

..so how do you "play" a batsman that good? This was a problem that faced Douglas Jardine, Captain of the English team. It was clearly unthinkable, England, home of cricket, masters of the universe, facing an absolute drubbing on their tour down under to play the colonials. .. and lets not be dainty about it, the Australian public weren't the type to hold back, both people and press would be crowing about it and rubbing it in with vulgar relish.

There was always a strong sense in Austrlia that the English thought they were a cut above the "colonials" and lets face it many of them did. It went all the way back to the times when if you were born in England you were referred to - in Australia mind you - as "sterling" and if you were born in Australia you were a "currency" lad or lass ie inferior. It really was a serious divide within Australian society at the time. As you may have noticed from previous entries, it was a long and bitter struggle for Australians to establish a relatively egalitarian society. Consequently there was never a contest that presses more buttons for Australians than a sporting contest against the English. Especially snooty upper crust English - yes, and especially in those days that meant cricket - the sport of gentlemen! It's not like that quite as much these days, that sense of class warfare has pretty much gone from the contest, but it's an important element of the Bodyline tale (.. and well... we do still like beating England at sport LOL).

... so back to Douglas Jardine. He came up with a new strategy. Not against the rules, just so against the spirit of cricket that Australians considered it to be cheating. Leg Theory - or as it was dubbed by the Australian press - Bodyline. It involved the bowler aiming the ball, not at the stumps as was supposed to be the case, but at the body of the batsman, forcing them to duck or be hit. Now to aim a hard cricket ball travelling very very very fast at the body of a person, could potentially kill someone. This wasn't sport anymore this was war.

And the strategy was successful. Batsmen were hit, perhaps in the chest- Bill Ponsford was hit in the temple and it was feared that this loved and respected player might have been killed. To put it mildly the mood in Australia was ugly. There were fears for the safety of the English team. But England was winning, so appeals to the masters of the game safety home in England where they got the scores but couldn't see the play fell on delightedly deaf ears. Perhaps we should note here that some in the English team objected to the tactics and refused to play to them. One player even left the team entirely.

We are very proud to say, that despite the severe provocation, the Australians did not retaliate. They kept going out, ducking, getting hit and suffering on the scoreboard. The series went on and ultimately the tour ended. The issue of Bodyline was not resolved until the Aussies toured England and out came bodyline in front of the home crowd. The English, when they saw it for themselves, were as horrified as the Aussie fans had been and the rules were changed to prevent the use of "leg theory" tactics. And Jardine? Well, Jardine was reviled. It really was a gripping story and there was an outstanding mini-series made which is available on DVD. Obviously the series is called Bodyline.

In the dark days of the depression - and by the way Australia was second only to Germany in how hard we were hit by the great depression - the Don (along with Phar Lap) was a filip to the Australian spirit. The crowds would sing the song penned in tribute to him when he walked onto the pitch. Must have been an amazing atmosphere.

The link a line or two above will take you to a little film clip of the Don giving some advice to young players and film of the crowds and audio of the song.

The song goes like this:

Who is it that all Australia raves about?

Who has won our very highest praise?

Oh is it Amy Johnson, or little Mickey Mouse?

No, its just a country lad that's bringing down the house.

And he's our Don Bradman! Now I ask you, Is he any good?

Our Don Bradman! As a batsman he can sure lay on the wood

Oh when he goes into bat, he knocks every record flat

For there isn't anything he cannot do!

Our Don Bradman! Every Aussie dips his lid to you!!

This is a link to the Bradman Foundation the official Bradman site and operators of the Bradman Museum in Bowral.

Or you can follow the Bradman Trail another official site which gives information about sites of pilgrimage.

Two towns in NSW lay some claim on the Don. The town of his birth is Cootamundra. The house where he was born is now a museum "dedicated to the event" ... (the mind boggles LOL).

But of course Don Bradman is "the boy from Bowral" Bowral is in the Southern Highlands a very pretty area which is a pleasant day trip out of Sydney. Bowral is the location of the Bradman museum, you can visit the house where he grew up and the cricket pitch where he first played.

For most of his adult life, Don Bradman lived and worked in Adelaide and he gave his own collection of memorabilia to the SA Government. It is on display in a purpose built gallery at the State Library of South Australia.

Information and links on these sites are provided on the Bradman Trail site.

There is a link to a biography of Bradman in the title of this section.

Phar Lap

While we're about it speaking of personalities that raised spirits during the depression, this seems the logical place to talk about Phar Lap. A Kiwi bred horse foaled near Timaru, he was an ugly duckly bought for a song. We could argue all day about where he belongs in terms of lists, but ultimately his owner was a Sydneysider and he began his racing in Sydney.. so that's my excuse for claiming him for NSW LOL!! Phar Lap was of course a great winner of the Melbourne Cup and his hide is stuffed and on display at the Museum Victoria in Melbourne. His bones were donated to a museum in NZ. The Museum of Australia in Canberra has his heart, which was un-naturally large it turned out, making a literal fact of his strappers claim that he was all heart!

Phar Lap died under suspicious circumstances in the US. Discussion and new theories about Phar Laps death can still raise the attention of Australians today. There's still people doing tests and coming up with theories. Indeed an Aussie grudge that (believe it or not still persists) is the suspicion that the yanks killed Phar Lap. The motive being that the bookies couldn't make money off him. He was a punters sure bet and his owners/trainer would not rig the races - which clearly did nothing to damage the love the people had for Phar Lap during such hard economic times.

It is also useful to know how prominent and popular the horse racing industry was in Australia at the time. The Melbourne Cup is still the race that stops a nation, but general interest in racing is tame now to what it was at the time of Phar Lap. (For Aussies: there was a fascinating documentary series on the ABC some while back, it doesn't appear to be available on DVD, but if you should happen across it, do tune in!)

It is a tribute indeed to have it said of you that you "have the heart of Phar Lap". The govt website reckons that the saying means that you are Australian and proud.. but I reckon they've got that wrong. I say that if you have the heart of Phar Lap you give it everything you've got. Will never give up the chase no matter what, you're a battler fighting against the odds. Phar Lap kept winning no matter the handicap. They kept loading him up with weight and he just kept on keeping on. That's what it means to have the heart of Phar Lap. That explanation on the website is rubbish it's got nothing to do with being Australian!

There is a very good multi media presentation on Phar Lap on the website of the Museum of Victoria.

Never mind who claims him, Phar Lap is a great Anzac icon.

Slim Dusty

From an internationally revered cricketing God, and the great Phar Lap, we move on to the late great Slim Dusty. A lighthearted addition to this list, which shouldn't be taken toooo seriously.

Slim is the icon of Australian country music. Responsible for the iconic song "The Pub with No Beer" or "Duncan" a song that when I was a teenager had all the generations singing happily along together - now THAT didn't happen often in the charts. Can you imagine Countdown - the regular weekly top of the pops show and about as modern as it got - having the no 1 song a country drinking ditty? LOL just picture it the whole mob at the high school discos bursting forth:

I love to have a beer with Duncan,

I love to have a beer with Dunc

We drink in moderation

and we never ever ever get rolling drunk

We drink at the town and country

were the atmosphere is great

I love to have a beer with Duncan

'cause Duncan's me mate

and on it goes. High culture! But there's other great tunes too, like When the Rain Tumbles Down in July; Redback on the Toilet Seat; or Gumtrees by the Roadway and many many many others. Even those who aren't into country surely love Slim Dusty.

Some notable mentions

Now I'd better bring the NSW list to a close, though I am certain there's many another great New South Welshman we could discuss and when the other jurisdictions are completed I might add some more perhaps. However I would like to add a few notable mentions for my State

Mervyn Victor Richardson - Inventor of the Victa Lawnmower. Yeah, I know foreign readers won't understand this entry - but Aussies surely do!

Sir Douglas Mawson of the antarctic - geologist and explorer

Lawrence Hargrave - aeronautical pioneer and inventor... born and educated in England though.. I guess we really have to share him..

Peter Finch - actor -

Chips Rafferty - actor

Ion Idriess - author - true Australian stories. Very collectable and most them a bloody good read. My favourite source of collectable Idriess is the Read Healer in Echuca Victoria - just in case you want to get in on the act!!

William Charles Wentworth - one of the first great Australian patriots.. oh, and an explorer too.. but he makes my list for his political activism "more than any other man he secured our fundamental liberties and nationhood". William Charles Wentworth was the owner of Vaucluse House, an historic property that can be visited in Sydney.

Dr Victor Chang - surgeon and humanitarian.

NSW Greats 4 - Louisa Lawson and Jesse Street

Back to some more great women this State has produced. 

Louisa Lawson

Feminist, women's rights activist, writer and poet, businesswoman, suffragist.

One of the originals in the fight for women's suffrage in what was then the colony of NSW.   She started her own publication "The Dawn - a journal for women" in 1888 having sucessfully established herself after the end of her marriage and having worked her way up by washing, sewing and taking in boarders before buying shares in and working on a paper called the Republican.  With the Dawn she had finally set up her own publishing house.   As she employed women, including women typographers she had to fight off the objections of the NSW Typographers Assn who did not allow women members.  The Dawn was an instrument of change.  Louisa announced that it would " publicise women's wrongs, fight their battles and sue for their suffrage.  It offered household advice, fashion, poetry, a short story and extensive reporting of women's activities both locally and overseas.  Louisa added a political editorial on the importance to women of the divorce extension bill...: " And Louisa achieved all this while raising 4 children and without any of the labour saving devices we have today.  What a woman!

We can also note here that Louisa was the mother of Henry Lawson, but she needs no name dropping and is a legend in her own right.   She is buried in the Anglican section of Rookwood Necropolis in Sydney. Friends of Rookwood offer themed tours of the cemetary on the first Sunday of the month between March and November.

Her poems are not her claim to fame, but you might be curious to read some of them.

Jesse Street

Jesse Street picked up where the likes of Louisa Lawson left off.  She campaigned on equal rights for women and human rights both domestically and across a world stage.   Among her many achievements in 1945 she was instrumental in having the word "sex" in the clause "without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion" wherever it occurs in the Charter of the United Nations.   She campaigned for peace and for aboriginal rights and was influential in organising aboriginal leaders into a national lobby group and (with advice) drafted changes to the Australian Constitution removing discriminatory reference to Aboriginal people.  Her suggested changes where passed in the 1967 referendum.  

Jesse Street was simply an unbelievably capable, courageous woman committed to human rights.  She seemed to have a knack of being wherever in the world there was something going on.  Her biography is probably the most awe inspiring and fascinating biography I have read.  She really had a fascinating and inspirational life.

Unlike Louisa Lawson, Jesse was from a privileged background and was a graduate of Sydney University.  It was by no means the accepted thing for women to be educated to a tertiary level in 1908.  It was at Sydney Uni that she met her future husband who was to become Sir Kenneth Street - Chief Justice of NSW.  Chief Justice of NSW was something of a family occupation. Kenneth's father was Sir Philip Street and Kenneth and Jesse's son was to become Sir Laurence Street ... both of whom were also Chief Justice of NSW. Quite a family .. but I digress.. and perhaps I do Jesse Street an injustice clouding her entry with other personages..  please do read her biography which is linked in the title. I'm sure I haven't done her justice in this little entry.   

I would also like to add just few words in praise of Sir Kenneth Street.  It cannot have been all that convenient in those days to have such a woman as your wife when you are  at the bar and establishing your career or the Chief Justice of NSW and firmly embedded in the establishment and your wife is getting right stuck in, in the political arena and being smeared with names like "Red Jesse".  It does him credit that he allowed his amazing wife the right to her own career. I guess we shouldn't be surprised that their son is a bit of a legend too.

This link will take you to the Jesse Street content on the National Archives website on Uncommon Lives.

NSW Greats 3 - Pemulwuy, Windradyne and Gambu Gunuurru

High time we had some aboriginal representation in this list. 

Pemulwuy of the Eora

Pemulwuy, of the Eora people is probably the best known of the resistance fighters and the earliest.  From the Mabo Native Title website:

Pemulwuy was an Eora man, his people immediately affected by the settlement of the Port Jackson area. From 1790 until 1802 Pemulwuy waged a remarkably brave and successful guerilla resistance in what has now become the city of Sydney. His military exploits included attacks on the major inland British settlements of Toongabbie and Parramatta. Eora people credited him with a magical invincibility. He was ambushed, shot and beheaded in 1802.

I once attended a talk by a knowledge keeper of the Dharawal people and his wife (an Irish woman who was researching the uses of indigenous plants).  She/they had some interesting things to say about Pemulwuy.  Apparently Pemulwuy's mother was a knowledge keeper re the medicinal uses of local plants.  Apparently on a number of occassions the colonial authorities thought that Pemulwuy was dead or sure to die and released his body for burial by his family but with treatment by his mother he recovered. They said that on at least one occassion his mother was let in to see the mortally wounded Pemulwuy as he died, then allowed to take his body away.  The assertion was that his mother knew a herb that suppressed the vital signs faking death and she used it.   This same herb was being or to be researched for use in surgery in modern medicine.  I have to say, it felt wrong to describe him as a great  New South Welshman. He was a great Eora man,  born in his own country and nothing to do really with the modern State of NSW.   That aside, he deserves his place here on this list of greats. 

There is also an interesting article about Pemulwuy on the smh website.  This is a link to Pemulwuy's entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Windradyne of the Wiradjuri 

Again from the Mabo Native Title website - they seem to have a nice succint way to tell the story:

Windradyne was a Wiradjuri, from the central western New South Wales. In the years 1822-3 he and his fellows raided settlers, killing some and terrifying all. The Government's determined response had left 100 Wiradjuri dead by mid 1824, including Windradyne's family. As the hunt for Windradyne continued, several hundred Wiradjuri were killed or wounded along the western side of the Great Dividing Range. The toll was great, and Windradyne and his people soon made a peace accord with Governor Brisbane at a ceremony in Parramatta.

Like Pemulwuy he has an entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, so I have linked there here.  And an excellent detailed (and yet accessible) paper on Windradyne and other resistance leaders from other States here.

Gambu Ganuurru of the Kamilaroi

Gambu Ganuurru or "red kangaroo" was a great war chief and wise leader of the Kamilaroi prior to white colonisation of Australia. His lands were around the area which is now Gunnedah NSW.   Please follow the link in the title to the wikipedia article on Gambu Ganuurru.  Ion Idriess wrote about this great indigenous leader in The Red Chief - which I am happy to recommend, especially for people venturing out Gunnedah way.  The way Ion Idriess tells it, the security and defence  preparedness of Gambu Ganuurru's tribe had been neglected when he was coming of age, but he saw the peril, proved himself and went on to be a great leader.  I know that's pretty thin, but I don't want to ruin things for people reading the book. ...sorry...

There is a memorial to Gambu Ganuurru near Gunnedah NSW. 

NSW Greats 2: Dorothea Mackellar and Dame Mary Gilmore

It seems only reasonable given that we've just had two of our most celebrated male poets, to continue on with a couple of female poets.

Dorothea Mackellar

Dorothea Mackellar has the distinction of having written one of the most evocative poems about Australia ever penned. Australia is known as the sunburnt country christened thus in Dorothea Mackellar's "My Country". To some it may seem a small contribution, this poem, but that's like saying penning Waltzing Matilda was a small contribution. At one time we all learned My Country at school. It is a beautiful beautiful poem that will invariably bring tears to my eyes at least.

Though Dorothea was a Sydney girl, she had family links to the Gunnedah region. There is a statue of her in Anzac Park Gunnedah NSW.

The Dorothea Mackellar poetry awards are held annually for Austrlian school students.

Dame Mary Gilmore

"As patriot, feminist, social crusader and folklorist [Dame Mary Gilmore] has now passed into Australian legend." She is without question one of the great personages to come out of NSW and her story is best understood by reading the above linked biography.

I have to be honest with you and say that before today I was not familiar with Dame Mary's literary works. Of course I have heard of her. Well more than heard of her, she was always very well known. What I had known of Dame Mary I learned from reading about Louisa Lawson (Henry's mother and herself destined for this list of greats). It seems Mary was a fellow feminist and campaigner against injustice and deprivation as well as a poet. Mary had a relationship with Henry Lawson and though it was never substantiated, she claimed that they had been unofficially engaged.... but she didn't get along with his mother. The two women were quite antagonistic to one another.

I have to say that reading her poetry I can see why she gained such a reputation. Do follow the link and read such gems as "The Waradjery Tribe"; "Singapore"; "No Foe Shall Gather our Harvest"; "Marri'd" or "Nationality".

Dame Mary adorns one side of the Australian $10 note.

NSW Greats 1 Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson

When it comes to new south Welshmen, we have an absolute abundance to pick from. This is of course a blessing and a problem, as I was only aiming for 10 great Aussies from each State or Territory. The result will inevitably leave some great people out, but her goes for my personal – home- State list.

Let’s make the first entry about two colourful characters who did not always see eye to eye.

Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson.

Banjo Patterson will of course always be treasured by Australians for his wonderful poetry. Probably best known, certainly in global terms, would be The Man From Snowy River. Most Aussies would surely be able to quote you at least the first line…

“There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around

That the colt from old Regret had got away…”

When tired of reciting it we can always sing it!

And speaking of singing, Banjo Paterson also wrote the words to Walzing Matilda, so for that alone he would be an icon.

There are of course other great favourites of old and young alike. Poems such Mulga Bill's Bicycle; the Man from Ironbark; or the various poems featuring Saltbush Bill (Saltbush Bill JP is just hysterical) and of course Clancy of the Overflow. If you hunt around on the web, you can find such treasures this fabulous rendition of Clancy of the Overflow by Lindsay Radford.

AB Paterson's family wasn't short of a quid, as is reflected by his education - governess and Sydney Grammar. This privileged life gave him a different perspective on the bush to the view held by Henry Lawson who was from a family of battlers. Paterson and Lawson sparred with eachother in verse on the subject.

Both Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson were among quite a group of people published in the Bulletin. By the way, one of the prime movers in the establishment of the Bulletin was one J F Archibald (a Victorian). This same Archibald was responsible for establishing the Archibald Prize (see the link for Archibald) and gave Sydney the Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park. Easily Sydney's favourite fountain. The Bulletin - an iconic Australian in its own right published its last edition in January 2008. Archibald once described the Bulletin as a "clever youth" he later predicted, as he sold his interest, "it will become a dull old man". It seems the readers ultimately agreed.

This being a travel blog, it seems appropriate to note the Banjo Paterson related festivals I have come across. The Mulga Bill Festival is held annually over the last weekend in July in Yeoval NSW and includes a Mulga Bill bike ride!

The Snowy River Festival is held in Dalgety NSW in November.

The Man from Snowy River Bush Festival is held in Corryong Victoria in April.

And of course, the Waltzing Matilda Centre is located in Winton Queensland, where the song was written. Though I have to say their website is fairly useless, you'd hope the centre is an improvement on the website especially given their fairly hefty entrance charge.

Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson was also a poet, but he is even more highly regarded as a writer and wrote quite a number of short stories. Born in the NSW town of Grenfell, in a tent on the goldfields, his family were battlers. It was a life of struggle for the family. Henry Lawson suffered an interrupted education and did not have an opportunity of schooling at all until his mother's "vigorous agitation" resulted in a bark slab school hut being built when he was 8. In addition to the difficulties of schooling, there were also difficulties in health care and as a result of illness Henry suffered a significant hearing loss.

However as is so often the case for those who experience trials and struggles in their life Henry clearly gained in his perceptions and insights which fed his writing, giving him a very different idea of life in Australia to that experienced and perceived by Banjo Paterson. Lawson's poem Faces in the Street is a case in point or Borderland which pointedly counters the upbeat and romantic vision of the country in poems like Paterson's Clancy of the Overflow.

While the Billy Boils is a collection of Lawson's short stories.

Lawson's statue, by George Lambert is usually in the Domain in Sydney (though I know it was moved at least temporarily for the George Lambert retrospective in Canberra a year or so ago). George Lambert is best known as the official war artist of the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and many of his paintings are held at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Henry Lawson's portrait, commissioned by JF Archibald from Will Longstaff (another Victorian) is in the Art Gallery of NSW. Will Longstaff was a veteran of the South African War (aka Boer War) and WWI and is best known for his paintings of ghostly soldiers such as Menin Gate at Midnight.

Both the towns of Grenfell and Gulgong claim a relationship with Henry Lawson. Lawson's birth place is marked in Grenfell with a small memorial to him in the main street. Grenfell also hosts the Henry Lawson Festival of Arts over the June long weekend. Gulgong gets in on the act with their own Henry Lawson Heritage Festival held on the same weekend. Gulgong has a small museum dedicated to Lawson's life. Both Grenfell and Gulgong are lovely little towns to visit with historic streetscapes.

VIC Greats 5 - Dame Nellie Melba and some Artists

Dame Nellie Melba

Nellie Melba was an internationally acclaimed soprano.  What more's to say? She's certainly an icon and really can't be left off this collection of personages.  While the link to abd in the above title will provide a comprehensive biography,  I think the most accessible information about Nellie Melba is on the war memorial website.  

Marjorie Lawrence rates a notable mention also.  She was an internationally acclaimed dramatic soprano who was struck down by polio.  She wrote an autobiography Interupted Melody and a movie of the same name was made, but Marjorie Lawrence herself said the movie was not true to her life.  Pretty good movie just the same though.

 

Frederick McCubbin 

Tom Roberts

Arthur Streeton

It is always difficult in assembling a collection of great personages in choosing who should go on the list.  I guess it should go without saying, that my collection is very subjectively chosen.  It's people that I admire obvioulsy.  So in considering the Arts I have to include these three wonderful artists.   As founders of the Heidelberg school, McCubbin, Roberts and Streeton were major figures in the development of the Australian school of landscape and subject painting that emerged at the close of the nineteenth century. 

A little google searching will bring up plenty of images of these great Australian artists work many of which are iconic.  A visit to any of the State or National Galleries will bring you face to face with a selection of their great work.  One of my favourites, Shearing the Rams by Tom Roberts is on display in the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. 

Sidney Nolan

While we're considering Victorians who have made a great contribution to the arts, we will have to include Sidney Nolan.  Often described as "arguably Australia's most significant and internationally acclaimed artist".  To be honest I haven't always been that much of an admirer of his work, which is rather modern and abstract a lot of the time.  However I did go to a retrospective at the Art Gallery of NSW and gained a new appreciation of his talent and contribution.  One of his most famous lines of exploration was the Ned Kelly series of paintings which are fair dinkum iconic - (I even stitched myself a magnet of the one of his kelly figures and this lives on my fridge....)  

My favourite of Nolan's works is not so easy to see. It  is part of the collection of the Australian National University and is called Riverbend.  It is comprised of 9 large panels and at the retrospective it was displayed around a curved wall.  It is simply magnificent.  I've had a bit of a go at finding a link to an image of Riverbend, and there is one on the ANU's website about their collection, but it looks really pathetic on my screen at least and doesn't even remotely convey the magnificence of the original or how well it captures the essence of an Australian riverbend.   However, if you every get the chance to get along to an exhibition of this painting - don't miss it.

Norman Lindsay

Norman Lindsay was something of a phenomenon.   He was part of a very artistic family with 5 of the children becoming artists of note. The ABD online gives a comprehensive account of the Lindsay family's achievements.  

Norman and the clan are tangled up with so many Australian icons it's just not funny. I think this is best explained on the website for the Norman Lindsay Gallery at Springwood NSW for which a link is provided above.   For myself though, it's the Magic Pudding that brings Norman Lindsay close to my heart. An iconic kids book, the illustrations are also wonderful.  

Norman Lindsay's home at Springwood in the Blue Mountains of NSW is now a museum/gallery and is well worth a visit if you are in the area. 

I struggled a little in deciding what State should get to claim Lindsay given that so much of his life was spent in NSW and certainly that is where much of his work was done.  However, since he was born and raised in Victoria, I guess the Victorians must be entitled to claim him for this list at any rate.