Great-grand-daughter of John Barton Hack, Elizabeth Skottowe lived in Shanghai as a small child, as her father worked for the East India Company.
She was better known as an artist and illustrator than as a writer, painting with a distinctive Art Deco style as appears in her lino-cut illustrations for her childen's book, Me an' Tim an' Caroline. She attended the Adelaide School of Design (later known as the SA School of Arts and Crafts) in the late 1920s, and in the early 1930s was among the enrolling members of the Girls' Central Art School in Adelaide. She was sub-editor of the Forerunner, an art periodical which ran from 1930 to 1938.
In about 1934 Skottowe went to England to further her study of art. She had a series of children's stories published in the Advertiser's
Saturday Magazine, and in 1936, returning from study in England, won second prize in the Advertiser's Centenary novel competition with 'Family Coach', a book inspired by stories she had been told in her youth by her grandmother, Mrs Charles Hack.
At the beginning of World War II Skottowe departed again for England for further study. Before leaving she had an exhibition of her work that included a number of illustrations to accompany the writings of Noel Coward. Skottowe studied at the Central School of Art in London, returning briefly to South Australia in 1947, but then continuing to live in England.
