In 1921 Penton found employment as a copy-boy on the Brisbane Courier and went on to work on The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Express and The Daily Mail in London and Sir Frank Packer's The Daily Telegraph in Sydney.
[1] Penton wrote two novels, which sold quite well: Landtakers (1934), which chronicles pioneering life in Queensland from 1824 to 1864, and a sequel Inheritors (1936).
William Dobell won the 1943 Archibald Prize (awarded January 1944) with his caricature portrait of Joshua Smith (artist).
The book includes a reproduction of Dobell's caricature portrait of Penton, submitted to the same Archibald exhibition.
Penton Place, in the Canberra suburb of Gilmore, is named in his honour.