In 1946, with sponsorship from Sir Keith Murdoch, the Herald Chair of Fine Arts was founded at the University of Melbourne. Burke was its first appointee field of expertise was English 18th-century art. Burke collected a significant group of scholars around him, including Bernard Smith, the first Australian art historian, and Franz Philipp, a German Jewish refugee from Vienna and Ursula Hoff, who held a part-time position as a visiting lecturer in this new department.

Director of the National Gallery of Australia, 1990-1997. Elizabeth Ann Dewar Cameron was born to William Dewar Cameron (1893-1962), a Scotish immigrant and Vida Margaret Hutton (Cameron) (1894-1985). From 1938 to 1946, her maternal great-grandmother funded her to attend the private girl’s school, Somerville House. Churcher first became interested in art in 1939 when she went to the Queensland Art Gallery. She won several child-art contests through The Sunday Mail Child Art Contest.

Medievalist, École de Chartes scholar; used an archaeological approach for Chartres scholarship. James entered the University of Melbourne in 1949. As a student, completed a sub-major in art history under Joe Burke by surveying the Melbourne terrace house and its cast-iron tracery in 1951. His Bachelor's degree in [practicing] Architecture (with honors) was awarded in 1953. He married his wife, Hilary, at this time. After working in British West Africa, the couple returned to Australia where James founded an architectural practice in Roseville (greater Sydney) in 1957.

Director of the National Gallery, Victoria, Australia. Gave Ursula Hoff her postion as curator of prints and drawings. The then director of the National Gallery of Victoria, J. S. McDonald, made it clear that there would be no chance of employment for a German Jewish refugee during his directorship. All this changed when Sir Keith Murdoch became chairman of the Trustees.

Biographer of artists, author and classical translator. Lindsay was the son of the libertine artist/writer Norman Lindsay (1879-1969) and Kathleen Parkinson (Lindsay). Lindsay attended University of Queensland, obtaining a B.A. with honors in 1921. Lindsay wrote articles for Art in Australia and Vision. He first married Janet Beaton, which ended in divorce. In 1923 he published a book of poetry, Fauns and Ladies, followed by two more the following year.

Smith's parents were Charles Smith and Rose Anne Tierney (Smith).  

Australian colonial art historian and art patron. Marjorie Jean McCredie was born to John Alexandra and Florence Amelia Paterson (McCredie). During her childhood, McCredie was influenced by her parents’ politics, her father a Fabian socialist and her mother active in the Australian National Women’s League. McCredie grew up in Princes Hill and Kew, Australia. She attended Presbyterian Ladies’ College boarding school and the University of Melbourne, where she graduated.

Classical art historian of south Italian pottery from the 5th to the 4th centuries BC. Trendall's father was a woodworker in New Zealand. A severe case of peritonitis forced him a year's recuperation in bed where he developed a passion for literature. At 17 he enrolled at the University of Otago (then part of the University of New Zealand) to study mathematics, but changed after the hearing lectures of T. D. Adams, to classics. He also attended King's College, Auckland.

Museum director; key figure in the decriminalization of homosexuality in England in 1960’s. Winter was the son of Carl Winter and his wife Ethel Hardy (Winter). He attended Xavier College (Victoria, Australia, a prep school) before entering Newman College, University of Melbourne.