Appreciate your input longhorn and Nnisbin, but sadly we'll be leaving Australia for good in just under three weeks.

An update on these 2014 comments on the National Portrait Gallery, located by the lake with the National Library, Science Centre, High Court, and National Gallery -

"And then there's the National Portrait Gallery, one of my favourite Canberra buildings, which has a very pleasant cafe and - take note of this as parking in the area can be difficult to find and will shortly be all metered - free basement parking after about 0945 - enter from King Edward Terrace via the one way street which goes first, past the Portrait Gallery (keep an eye out for the sign on the right showing car spaces available in the basement carpark to the left..."

the cafe - and adjacent bookshop btw - are still very good, but the basement (therefore very comfortable in extreme weather) parking Mon-Fri is now all paid parking; on weekends however it's still free and what's more available before 0900 when the cafe opens - a good place for breakfast or brunch while planning the day visiting the other institutions nearby (which also have good cafes).

Note that the Portrait Gallery is scheduled to close from April to September 2019 for renovation works -

https://www.portrait.gov.au/content/npg-renovation