Galbally was born in Victoria in 1945,[1] daughter of Sheila Marie (née Kenny) and Labor Party politician, John William Galbally.[2] She graduated from the University of Melbourne with BA Hons (English and Fine Arts) in 1966, an MA in 1970[3] and a PhD in 1975.[4]
In the 1970s she was an art critic for The Age newspaper.[5] In 1977–78, while senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne, Galbally curated an exhibition of 60 artworks by Australian impressionist John Peter Russell which opened at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and then toured to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.[6]
She won The Age Book of the Year Non-Fiction Prize for Charles Conder: The last Bohemian in 2003 and her book, A Remarkable Friendship, was shortlisted for the 2010 Magarey Medal for Biography.[9]
Galbally, Ann (1995), Redmond Barry: An Anglo-Irish Australian, Melbourne University Press, ISBN978-0-522-84516-7
Galbally, Ann (2002), Charles Conder: The last Bohemian, Melbourne University Publishing, ISBN978-0-522-87297-2
Galbally, Ann (2008), A Remarkable Friendship: Vincent van Gogh and John Peter Russell, Miegunyah Press : Melbourne University Publishing, ISBN978-0-522-85376-6
^Jones, Barry O., "Galbally, John William (Jack) (1910–1990)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 5 November 2021
^"Australia seen as 'outpost'". The Canberra Times. Vol. 52, no. 14, 982. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 12 January 1978. p. 13. Retrieved 5 November 2021 – via National Library of Australia.