In 1970 he was appointed president of UNESCO Visual Arts Committee, but his directorship sometimes met with controversy; he was instrumental in the Gallery becoming the first in Australia to have a photography department, eventually with its own curator Jennie Boddington;; in 1973 Westbrook mounted a large retrospective of work by socialist artist Noel Counihan to criticism from the staff and trustees on grounds that it either was insufficiently 'modern' or that its subversive nature might bring the gallery into disrepute, but Professor (Sir) Joseph Burke's support in opening the exhibition carried weight with most trustees, leading to Counihan's acceptance as a major Australian artist; and an exhibition of Leonard French, who was then Westbrook's exhibitions officer met the disapproval of Professor Bernard Smith and his Antipodeans.