History of Australia Through Selected Portraits at the NPG - London

Explore the history of Australia through selected portraits at London's iconic National Portrait Gallery.

• This is a one-of-a-kind-tour, the first of its type in London and the UK run by Echoes of Oz - the tour arm of Australian Convict & Colonial Research - London
• The tour duration is 1 hr 30 mins. Small group - maximum 8 persons each tour. Accessibility: there is a lift and fold-out chairs at the gallery.
• We will meet at the Henry Irving statue outside the National Portrait Gallery - 41 Irving Street London WC2H 0HH
• Please arrive 10 minutes early so we can start on time.
• You will be taken on a fascinating tour of specially selected portraits that showcase Australian history through time at London's National Portrait Gallery.
• You will learn about Australia's first peoples - the oldest living culture in the world; European exploration and Britain's colonisation of Australia.
• The tour will then take you on a journey across early colonial Australia, starting with the influence of our first British King - George III, the arrival of the First Fleet, then through some of the major events and characters that formed modern Australia.
• Your guide, Jodie Hawthorne, grew up on Tasmania's northwest coastal lands of the Palawa - Tommeginne and Lowreenner tribes. Her father's side started their Australian story as English and Irish convicts on the First & Second Fleets. Her mother's side migrated from Yorkshire to Australia in the 1950s on the Assisted Migration/Ten Pound Pom scheme.
• Jodie is a qualified City of Westminster & London Heritage guide. She also holds a BArts from University of New England (rural NSW), a PGDip in Australian Folklife Studies from Curtin (Perth WA) & a Diploma in Family History from the University of Tasmania.
• With an aim to share the Australian convict transportation and colonial story with a wider audience, in late 2022, Jodie founded Australian Convict & Colonial Research - London.
• The group's research assistants are located in Australia and the UK. Their inaugural project is Transported Female Convicts of Westminster.
• Each year at The Family History Show - London they display an Australian history travelling exhibition and assist visitors with Australian family history inquiries.