Bill Boustead

William Morris Boustead (3 January 1912 – 15 October 1999) was an Australian Art conservator. He was conservator at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1954 until 1977.

Biography Boustead was born in Gloucester, New South Wales and educated at Fort Street High School. His first job after leaving school was working in a metallurgical and chemical laboratory while studying at technical college. Regarded as the Grandfather of the Conservation Profession in Australia Leading the Australian team as part of the International response to the flooding of Florence in 1966 Pioneering processes to conserve art works from tropical regions especially Bark Paintings Performed the initial conservation assessment of Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles in 1974 following its purchase by the Whitlam Government

Oral History Boustead was interviewed in 1975 by Hazel de Berg, which can be found at the National Library of Australia .