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King O’Malley reinvented

Peter Barclay with teh old-age portrait of King O’Malley by Dudley Drew

CANBERRA Museum and Gallery has hit the spot on several  levels with its new exhibition  about the legendary – some will  say notorious – Australian political figure King O’Malley.

While the curator has been working hard on unearthing documents showing the ways in which O’Malley reinvented himself over and over again in his early life in the United States and later in Australia, perhaps the museum’s most impressive coup has been getting sponsorship from Peter Barclay, the general manager of King O’Malley’s Irish Pub in Canberra, who has long been keen for the Australian public to know more about the larger-than-life figure after whom his establishment is named.

The exhibition was officially opened last Friday October 27 by speechwriter and author Bob Ellis, who co-authored (with Michael Boddy) the 1970 play “The Legend of King O’Malley” and who read from some of his writings on O’Malley.

In his view, the former Minister of State for Home Affairs was one of the  early examples of the many Australian politicians possessed of a theatrical flair.

Peter Barclay, Minister Joy Burch, curator Rowan Henderson and Bob ellis
Earlier in the day Ellis and ACT Minister for the Arts Joy Burch, were treated to a walk-through of the show by social history curator, Rowan Henderson, who showed them objects like O’Malley’s famous gold watch, as well as an American news article dating back to 1888 showing the shady side of O’Malley as an insurance salesman and photographs relating to O’Malley’s involvement in the design competition and first steps in building of the new federal capital.

There are other photographs and documents  relating to his claim to have founded the Commonwealth Bank and his introduction to Parliament of the Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta Railway Act.

They also viewed a number of portraits, including a pair painted about 50 years apart by artist  Dudley Drew, first when O’Malley was at the height of his power and once not long before his death, at around the age of 99 – although that, like many other “facts” in O’Malley’s life, is highly doubtful.

The exhibition “King O’Malley” is at Canberra Museum and Gallery, Civic Square, until March 12, 2012. Opening hours, Monday-Friday 10am-5pm, weekends 12-5pm.

 

King O'Malley

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Helen Musa

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