In 1954, Graham began to explore native Australian wildlife (notably Kangaroos) and themes associated with Aboriginal culture, using the visual languages of European figurative modernism and, later, geometric abstraction.

He began developing a new form of visual geometry related to Chaos Theory from 1960, eventually called Thematic Orchestration.

[1] Graham was a pioneer of the Australian artist-run initiative movement and ran The Queensberry Street Gallery in association with Victorian Printmakers' Group from 1973 until 1978.

He studied Hand Lithography with Ross McClintock Studios (Colour separation from artists' originals, drawn as lithographic plates – 24 sheet positives, etc.)

Between 1941 and 1946, Graham studied fine art with Victor Greenhalgh and John Rowell in night classes at Melbourne Technical College – figure and portraiture.

During this time, he also befriended the Irish 'folk' artist Gerald Dillon who lived nearby and who introduced Graham to the visual languages of Picasso and Matisse.

In 1950, Graham traveled through France and Italy before returning to Sydney under a three-year contract to Australian Consolidated Press working as a specialist in colour separation.

Between 1951 and 1953, Graham exhibited paintings in various group shows in Sydney, including the Inaugural Blake Prize for Religious Art.

Shared a studio with Leonard French and befriended the New Zealand born artist George Johnson, who introduced Graham to the work of Kandinsky, Klee and Mondrian.

Victorian Printmakers' Workshop group show opened at The Queensberry Street Gallery by Professor Bernard Smith 26 July 1977.

[17] There are currently two tape recordings by Peter Graham available at the National Library of Australia, Petherick Oral History Reading Room: