[2] In 1944 he joined the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve serving on HMAS Martindale, in the waters off Papua New Guinea until the end of World War II.
[1][2] He later actively campaigned for banks to lend capital for earth-built housing projects, and as a result he helped popularise and legitimise mudbrick buildings in mainstream society.
He pioneered an 'Australian' architectural look characterised by a lower, flatter roof line, often with a clerestory to introduce light to the centre of the house and large windows to the living areas to bring the 'outside in'.
Knox's main influences were Justus Jorgensen at Montsalvat, Francis Greenaway, Walter Burley Griffin and Frank Lloyd Wright.
It was designed in the early 1970s, and was built with reclaimed materials, including pieces of the demolished Bendigo Natives Association (ANA) Hall, 19th century railway parts, and bricks made by convicts from Bruny Island.