Cirrus@Austlit

'Sir William Dobell (1899-1970), painter, was born on 24 September 1899, at Newcastle, New South Wales, sixth surviving and youngest child of native-born parents Robert Dobell, bricklayer, and his wife Margaret Emma, née Wrightson. Educated at Cooks Hill Commercial Public School, where his teacher John Walker encouraged him to draw, in 1916 Bill became a draughtsman for the local architect, Wallace Lintott Porter. After Porter fell ill in 1923, Dobell found temporary employment for eight weeks at Narrandera before moving to Sydney to work for Wunderlich Ltd, manufacturers of building materials. In 1924 he enrolled at Julian Ashton's Sydney Art School, increasing his attendance at classes from three nights a week to include Saturday afternoons and then Sundays; he worked hard, as he later said, to impress his teacher Henry Gibbons.'