A Wombat
A Wombat
Ella J Osborn Fry (nee Robinson) was born in Brisbane, Australia and educated at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. For a time she worked as an apprentice with the commercial art firm of Morden & Bentley before studying art at the East Sydney Technical College, 1936-39, and music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 1936-1940. In 1940 she returned to Brisbane where she worked as an artist and a pianist, giving recitals with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and at concert performances. From 1943 she taught music and art at the Tamworth Church of England’s Girl’s School. In 1945 she married Melville Leonard Fry and two years later they moved to Perth where she continued her dual career. In 1951 her work was featured in an exhibition at the Claude Hotchin Galleries in Perth and she had a one-woman exhibition at the Skinner Galleries, Perth, in 1960. She was appointed to the Board of the Art Gallery of Western Australia in 1956, becoming chairman in 1976. In 1982 she was awarded the CBE. Her work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Western Australia and as well in many university, regional and private collections. The present work is a study for the artist’s illustration of the Common Wombat for W D L Ride’s A Guide to the Native Mammals of Australia, published by Oxford University Press, 1970.
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 was born in Brisbane, Australia and educated at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. For a time she worked as an apprentice with the commercial art firm of Morden & Bentley before studying art at the East Sydney Technical College, 1936-39, and music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 1936-1940. In 1940 she returned to Brisbane where she worked as an artist and a pianist, giving recitals with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and at concert performances. From 1943 she taught music and art at the Tamworth Church of England’s Girl’s School. In 1945 she married Melville Leonard Fry and two years later they moved to Perth where she continued her dual career. In 1951 her work was featured in an exhibition at the Claude Hotchin Galleries in Perth and she had a one-woman exhibition at the Skinner Galleries, Perth, in 1960. She was appointed to the Board of the Art Gallery of Western Australia in 1956, becoming chairman in 1976. In 1982 she was awarded the CBE. Her work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Western Australia and as well in many university, regional and private collections. The present work is a study for the artist’s illustration of the Common Wombat for W D L Ride’s A Guide to the Native Mammals of Australia, published by Oxford University Press, 1970.){kind=link}