Gilliland was born in Tasmania and educated at Sydney Technical High School,[2] living at Leichhardt.
[3] In 1934 he was appointed draftsman with the Registrar-General's department,[4] following a six-months' probation, and joined the Commonwealth Public Service in 1942,[5] based in Canberra.
[6] His Summer Morning was purchased by the National Gallery of NSW in 1944[7] His 1946 watercolors Windy Day, Canberra and Corkhills were noticed by the SMH art critic and given equivocal approval[8] and perhaps the same critic noticed his River Bank in 1947, re-echoing the thought that he had fallen short of Cezanne's "cubist ideals".
[9] Gilliland helped re-establish the Artists' Society of Canberra and was its Secretary and/or President 1945–1952.
In 1950 another member, Victor Forstmann had his portrait of Gilliland accepted for Archibald Prize judging.