Arthur R. Penfold

His father's death when Penfold was eleven years old forced him to leave school at fourteen to work as an office boy at a paint company.

However, Penfold was curious about the technology of paints and started taking evening classes in chemistry at Sydney Technical College.

He was a council member and in 1935 president of the Royal Society of New South Wales, and a founder and the first secretary-treasurer of the Art Galleries and Museums Association of Australia and New Zealand.

During World War II he served on various government scientific advisory committees and visited North America in 1945 to investigate recent advances in plastics.

Dulcie Penfold rose to level of Director at the National Library of Australia and received an MBE in 1976 for her service there.

Sketch of Arthur de Ramon Penfold from The Sun (Sydney), 23 May 1943