Throughout his long career, he experienced firsthand events that shaped Australian identity in the 20th century and documented through his work many of the characters that lived in this period.
He worked a multitude of jobs from droving to shearing, travelling extensively throughout the interior of Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
He enlisted in the Army during World War II and served in the 1st Anti Tank Regiment, a Militia unit,[2] attaining the rank of lance bombardier before transferring to the Royal Australian Air Force.
After his discharge at the end of the war Sawrey used his service pay to buy a mob of cattle which he ran on a small property on the Darling Downs with his mother.
During the mid 1970s many hall of fame conceptual meetings between Sawrey and RM Williams were held at Jack Murphy's Grand Central Gallery in Brisbane.
Sawrey with the assistance of Jack Murphy and Lester Padman of Boolarong press in Brisbane donated several print runs of some of his famous paintings for sale to assist in the building of the hall of fame[7][8] In his long career Sawrey was awarded several art prizes including the Queensland Industries Fair Gold Medal and in 1989 he was appointed a CBE for services to the arts.
The State Library of Queensland also holds a significant collection of personal items, letters, catalogs, clippings and photographs covering his career.
A sculpture of a horse with a rugged stockman on his back and the whip cutting up above his head (themes that Sawrey often painted) forms the entrance to the Kogan Community Centre.