The National Gallery of Australia is the premier art gallery and museum in Australia, holding over 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Government of Australia as a national public art gallery.
Tom Roberts, a famous Australian painter, had lobbied various Australian Prime Ministers, starting with the first, Edmund Barton. Prime Minister Andrew Fisher accepted the idea in 1910 and Parliament established a bipartisan committee of...
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The National Gallery of Australia is the premier art gallery and museum in Australia, holding over 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Government of Australia as a national public art gallery.
Tom Roberts, a famous Australian painter, had lobbied various Australian Prime Ministers, starting with the first, Edmund Barton. Prime Minister Andrew Fisher accepted the idea in 1910 and Parliament established a bipartisan committee of six political leaders, the Historic Memorials Committee in 1911. This Committee decided that the Government should collect portraits of Australian Governors-General, Parliamentary leaders and the principal "fathers" of Federation to be painted by Australian artists. This led to the establishment of what became known as the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board (CAAB), which was responsible for art acquisitions until 1973. Nevertheless, the Parliamentary Library Committee also collected paintings for the Australian collections of the Commonwealth...
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