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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 51| June 2001


Gatton Man

Portrait of Merv Lilley  

The National Library’s collection of portraits of Australian writers is enhanced by the acquisition of a portrait of Merv Lilley, painted by Nora Heysen in 1977.

Lilley is described in the Oxford Companion to Australian Literature as contributing verse to numerous periodicals and being represented in several well-known anthologies. He collaborated with his wife Dorothy Hewett on several projects, including a volume of verse What About the People (National Council of the Realist Writers Groups, 1962).

In an interview at the State Library of Victoria in the early 1980s, Lilley recalled his working life as a canecutter, trade union organiser, wharfie and cook, combining at times with his literary work in journalism, short stories and poetry. In 1973, he published an independent collection of poetry, Cautious Birds (South Bentley, W.A.: Peter Jeffery, 1973), followed by a collection of stories, reminiscences and poems titled Git Away Back!: A Knockabout Life (Sydney: Currency Press, 1983). More recently, Lilley published a partial autobiography, Gatton Man (Melbourne: McPhee Gribble, 1994).

Nora Heysen’s contribution to Australian art has been increasingly recognised in recent years. The acquisition of this portrait will complement the Library’s record of Heysen’s life and career, which includes oral history interviews made in 1965, 1971 and 1994, a revealing self-portrait in pastel made in 1948, photographic portraits taken from 1936 to 1995, and two charcoal studies of the artist as a child by her father Sir Hans Heysen. Nora Heysen was the subject of an exhibition held recently at the National Library.
—Michael Proud

Nora Heysen, 1911–
Portrait of Merv Lilley 1977
Oil on canvas; 112.5 x 82.5 cm
Pictorial Collection (PIC/3773)

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