He began his education in Singleton, New South Wales, in the Hunter Valley, where he lived with his maternal grandmother, and later in Sydney in 1896-1904, then at night schools.
[2] For his entire life, Dryer remained the central figure of the Irish National Association of Australasia, helping secure the land for its premises in Devonshire St, Surry Hills.
According to his biographer and friend Professor Patrick O'Farrell:[4] Dryer never visited Ireland, but his devotion to the cause of Irish independence, and particularly the party of de Valera was constant, selfless and total.
With great ability and remarkable strength of character and purpose, he was essentially a romantic idealist to whom Ireland represented all that was noble in human affairs.
His high intelligence and gentlemanly disposition stopped him well short of any fanaticism, but the realities of indifference and in-fighting which afflicted the Irish cause in Australia were a source of deep disappointment and frustration to him.