250748 Flight Lieutenant William "Bill" Ellis Newton VC, 22 Squadron

William Newton was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for valour and devotion to duty, the only such award made to a member of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in the Pacific Theatre.

He was born in Melbourne on 8 June 1919 and enlisted in the RAAF in early February 1940. His two brothers also enlisted. VX61887 Captain Lindsay Newton was a dentist in the Australian Army Medical Corps and Surgeon Lieutenant John Newton who served with the Royal Australian Navy. On receiving his commission Newton spent time as a flying instructor before being posted o No. 22 Squadron in May 1942 based in Port Moresby. He flew 52 operational sorties in Boston bombers and was known to be a "well-balanced, all round and highly trained and developed" officer with a "cheerful, natural and infectious personality".

On 18 March 1943, during an attack on the Japanese coastal base at Salamaua, Newton's aircraft sustained significant damage and he was forced to bring it down on the water. The following day, Newton and Sergeant John Lyon were captured by the Japanese and Lyon was executed. Newton, whose aircraft was known to the Japanese, was retained as a prisoner of war and executed on 29 March 1943. He was 23 years old. Following the war, his body was located and buried in Lae War Cemetery. Newton's medals are on display in the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial.

In this portrait, commissioned by his family, Newton is shown in the foreground with a ghostly depiction of his stricken Boston bomber in the sky to his left. The frame was made by Newton's family from blue gum, which is prolific around Wagga Wagga where Newton attended training. Inlaid into each side are Lone Pine pinecones from Victoria Barracks in Sydney and Banksia Serrata seed pods from Bungaree Reserve in Rose Bay.

Blak Douglas (b. 1970, Dhungatti people) has depicted Newton's plane as a spirit - the spirit of his legacy. Of his signature bold yellow sun and clouds, he says "In all my paintings it's always a product of the Seven Sisters dreaming or under the guise of grandfather, grandmother spirit. It gives it my cryptic bona fide spiritual acknowledgement."

Blak Douglas is an artist, illustrator, photographer and classically trained yidaki player. A self-taught painter, his practice highlights social justice issues relating to First Nations Australians. His works are influenced by graphic design and often demonstrate a clever use of visual allegory. In 2022 Blak Douglas was awarded the Art Gallery of NSW Archibald Prize. He was a finalist for the Archibald Prize in 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020 and became the second Aboriginal artist to win the Archibald Prize in its 101 year history following Vincent Namatjira (Western Aranda people) in 2020.