National Portrait Gallery

Established in 1998 as a national collecting institution in its own right, with the appointment of its first director, Andrew Sayers, in April 1998 and the first meeting of its board in May 1998; it was a non-statutory body administered within the arts portfolio department (then the Department of Communications and the Arts). It grew out of the portrait gallery that the National Library of Australia had run in Old Parliament House since 1994, an initiative that followed Gordon and Marilyn Darling's 1992 exhibition Uncommon Australians.

1. 21 October 1998Arts portfolio became the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.
2. 3 December 2007Moved with the arts functions to the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.
3. December 2008Moved from Old Parliament House into its purpose-built gallery on King Edward Terrace, Canberra.
4. 14 September 2010Moved with the Office for the Arts to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
5. 14 December 2011Moved with the Office for the Arts to the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport.

Replaced on 1 July 2013 by the statutory National Portrait Gallery of Australia, established by the National Portrait Gallery of Australia Act 2012, which took over its collection, staff and building.

• development of the national portrait collection
• portrait exhibitions and touring programs
• the National Photographic Portrait Prize
• public and education programs

Last in the portfolio of Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport.

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Some dates or links for this organisation are not fully confirmed. Corrections are welcome.