Robert Lyall Hannaford (b.1944), (Phillip) Michael Jeffery (detail), 2007, Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection. View full image
Governor-General, 11 August 2003 to 5 September 2008
Soldier, state governor, and advocate for the environment, Michael Jeffery (1937-2020) was Australia’s 24th Governor-General. Another fellow former Australian Army senior officer, David Hurley (who would also come to serve as Governor-General) paid tribute to Jeffery by stating ‘he worked tirelessly, put others ahead of himself and brought immense intellect, work ethic and commitment to everything he did’.1
Jeffery was born in Wiluna, WA, the son of an English immigrant, Philip and his Australian wife Edna. He was educated at Cannington and East Victoria Park state schools and Kent Street High School in Perth. He left Perth at the age of 16 to attend the Royal Military College, Duntroon. Following his graduation in 1958, he quickly rose through the ranks, serving in the Special Air Services Regiment and other units. An infantry company commander with the Royal Australian Regiment’s 8th Battalion in the Vietnam War, Jeffery was awarded an MC and the South Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. In 1986, he was promoted to major-general and commanded the Army’s 1st Division. In 1990, he became Deputy Chief of the General Staff.
Having retired from the Army in 1991, Jeffery was appointed Governor of WA in 1993. While Governor, he advocated for Indigenous history to be taught in schools. Jeffery had married Marlena Kerr while serving in Papua New Guinea; they had three sons and a daughter.
Jeffery was sworn in as Governor-General in August 2003, as, at that time, only the fourth former state governor to serve in the role and the first in almost 60 years.2 He was the first Australian career soldier to be appointed Governor-General. During his tenure, he was appointed as Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps, succeeding the previous Colonel-in-Chief, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.3 After leaving office, Jeffery became Australia’s first National Advocate for Soil Health, campaigning to raise awareness of soil degradation and the importance of regenerative farming.
Michael Jeffery died on 18 December 2020. Mourners at his state funeral at the Anzac Memorial Chapel, Duntroon, heard how ‘despite his capacity to walk with kings’, the humility of the ‘boy from Wiluna never really left him’.4
Robert Lyall Hannaford AM
South Australian-born painter, sculptor and conservationist Robert Hannaford (b.1944) grew up on his family farm before moving to Adelaide in his teens to complete his education. He worked as a political cartoonist for the Advertiser from 1964 to 1967. Though largely self-taught, Hannaford’s passion for painting was encouraged by Australian artists and mentors, Sir Hans Heysen and Ivor Hele. In 1967 and 1968, Hannaford attended the Ballarat Technical Art School, under the control of the School of Mines, and from 1969 to 1973 was winner of the AME Bale Travelling Scholarship and Art Prize. Hannaford has been at the forefront of contemporary Australian portraiture, winning the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize in 1990, the Viewer Prize in 1991 and 1998, and has been a frequent finalist in the Archibald Prize. He also painted Paul Keating for the HMC. In 2001, he was commissioned to paint the centenary sitting of the Australian Parliament. Hannaford’s portraits of other prominent Australians include Chief Justice Murray Gleeson and Dame Joan Sutherland. Hannaford was made an AM in 2014 for his service to the arts.
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(Phillip) Michael Jeffery
by Robert Lyall Hannaford
2007
Oil on canvas
118.5 x 90 cm
Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection
References
1. Information in this biography has been taken from: B Carroll, Australia’s Governors-General: From Hopetoun to Jeffery, Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd, Kenthurst, NSW, 2004; ‘Extended biography: Major General Jeffery’, The Governor- General of the Commonwealth of Australia, accessed 6 April 2021; K Burgess, ‘Ex-GG farewelled in place it began’, The Canberra Times, 30 December 2020, p. 3; R Ferguson, ‘A warrior king and a visionary’, The Australian, 30 December 2020, p. 4.
2. As state governors, Jeffery was preceded by Lord Hopetoun (Victoria 1889–95), Baron Tennyson (SA 1899–1902) and Lord Gowrie (SA 1928–34 and NSW 1935–36). More recently, Quentin Bryce (Queensland 2003–08) and David Hurley (NSW 2014–19) have served as both governors and governors-general.
3. ‘GG’s new Role’, Army News, 21 May 2006, Edition 1167.
4. Burgess, op. cit.
5. Information in this biography has been taken from: ‘Hannaford, Robert’, A McCulloch, S McCulloch and E McCulloch Childs, eds, The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Aus Art Editions in association with The Miegunyah Press, 2006, p. 496; ‘Robert Hannaford’, High Court of Australia; ‘Robert Hannaford: artist statement’; ‘Robert Hannaford’, National Portrait Gallery. Websites accessed 25 March 2021.