William Alexander Dargie (1912-2003), William Joseph Slim (detail), 1955, Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection. View full image
Later Viscount
Governor-General, 8 May 1953 to 2 February 1960
A celebrated World War II military officer, William Slim (1891-1970) was described as a ‘caged eagle’ as Australia’s Governor-General.1 Despite his formidable reputation, he was a popular figure, entering pubs in ceremonial uniform and exhibiting the dry humour and frankness that earned him the wartime nickname ‘Uncle Bill’.
Slim was born in Bristol, England, to a family of modest means. His military career began on the World War I battlefields of France, Gallipoli, and Mesopotamia, where he was awarded the MC. In 1919 he transferred to the Indian Army, rising through the ranks to become an acting brigadier by 1939. In 1926 he married Aileen Robertson and they had two children. To supplement his income, he anonymously wrote ‘stories and articles’ for English newspapers and periodicals.2
In World War II, Slim served in the African, Middle East and Indian campaigns, before leading the Allied forces in Burma. It was here that his reputation was cemented with
a series of victories, culminating in the reoccupation of Rangoon in May 1945. ‘Lord Louis (Earl) Mountbatten considered him the finest general World War II produced.’3
When Prime Minister Robert Menzies met Queen Elizabeth II to discuss appointing a new Governor-General, he expressed his preference for someone who ‘is completely acceptable to both of us’.4 Slim, who was Chief of the Imperial General Staff at the time, was the first choice of both. His planned March 1953 arrival in Australia was delayed when the UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill diverted him to manage the deteriorating political situation in Egypt. Accordingly, it was not until May that Slim was officially sworn in.
As Governor-General, Slim insisted that he receive detailed briefs on Bills seeking his assent and that only personal expenses came out of his own pocket. Occasionally given to issuing public comment on political matters, a most notable example was his public criticism of the government’s defence policy, which immediately prompted Menzies’s rebuke.5 The only constitutional business arising during his tenure was Menzies’s request for an early dissolution of the House of Representatives in late 1955, which he granted. The vice-regal couple travelled widely around Australia; however, the highlight of his term was Queen Elizabeth’s and Prince Philip’s visit to Australia in 1954, the first by a reigning monarch. Slim was made GCVO shortly after.
Following his return to England in 1960, he was created Viscount Slim of Yarralumla and Bishopston. He held senior positions on several corporate boards, alongside ceremonial posts at Windsor Castle. He died on 14 December 1970 and received a full military funeral.
William Alexander Dargie
Artist and teacher William Dargie (1912-2003) is best known for his contribution to Australian portraiture. A prolific portraitist and eight-time winner of the Archibald Prize, Dargie was inspired by the Heidelberg School of impressionist artists. In 1941, while teaching art at Swinburne Technical College in Melbourne, Dargie was appointed an official war artist for the Australian Army. He worked for five years recording the aftermath of battles across the Middle East, India, Burma and New Guinea. After the war, Dargie built a distinguished career as a leading portrait artist, taking on several commissioned portraits of eminent figures, also including the HMC official portraits of Prime Ministers Arthur Fadden and John McEwen. He simultaneously held several administrative positions, serving on the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board for 20 years and heading up the National Gallery of Victoria Art School and the National Gallery of Victoria. In 2002, to mark his 90th birthday, the Australian War Memorial, Parliament House and the National Portrait Gallery held exhibitions to pay tribute to his contribution to Australian art. His work is represented in national and state galleries and other public institutions across Australia.6
William Joseph Slim
by William Alexander Dargie
1955
Oil on canvas
100.3 x 74.7 cm
Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection
References
1. M Collins Persse, ‘Slim, Sir William Joseph (1891–1970)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 2002. Information in this biography has also been taken from: B Carroll, Australia’s Governors-General: From Hopetoun to Jeffery, Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd, Kenthurst, NSW, 2004; R Callahan, ‘Slim, William Joseph, first Viscount Slim (1891–1970), army officer’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Websites accessed 1 September 2021.
2. Persse, op. cit.
3. Ibid; P Ziegler, ‘Mountbatten, Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas, first Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900–1979)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, accessed 3 November. 2021.
4. Carroll, op. cit., p. 123.
5. Ibid., p. 127.
6. Information in this biography has been taken from: M Keaney, ‘Sir William Dargie CBE’, Portrait 9, September–November 2003, National Portrait Gallery; ‘Sir William Dargie: A Ninetieth Birthday Tribute’, National Portrait Gallery; ‘Captain William Dargie’, Australian War Memorial; ‘Dargie, (Sir) William Alexander’, 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. 366. Websites accessed 25 March 2021.