Dale Marsh

Dale Marsh is an Australian Post-war & Contemporary Landscape and Genre Painter. Dale began his art career at the age of 9 on a scholarship to the Queensland Art Gallery receiving instruction from Vida Lahey. He then studied drawing and painting at the Brisbane Technical College and later, art at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. His first exhibition was in Melbourne in 1972.

He mainly paints in oils and he aims to portray the character and environment of Australia and its people. He has had over 50 one-man exhibitions in Australia, Japan and the UK, published two books and is featured in many of Australia’s major art collections.

As a young man in the 1950s and 60’s, Dale Marsh spent time with Ian Fairweather in his Bribie Island hut and later painted his famous portrait just days before he died.

Dale Marsh’s painting of Edward Sheean has also become famous because on 10 August 2020, the Prime Minister of Australia accepted the findings of a panel and recommended the Queen posthumously award Sheean the Victoria Cross for Australia. The Queen approved the award on 12 August. An investiture ceremony was held on 1 December 2020 at Government House in Canberra. Governor-General General David Hurley presented the award to Sheean's nephew, Garry Ivory. Sheean's medal was the first VC awarded to a Royal Australian Navy crew member.