illustrator and commercial artist, was born in London and grew up on a chicken farm 50 miles to the north. Unable to find work as an illustrator after leaving school, she painted scenery, designed and made sets and costumes and acted for provincial and small London theatres. She continued to sketch, and she also did occasional commercial art, her first regular commission being to fill in the patterns and fur trimmings on hundreds of outline fashion drawings.
Senior migrated to Australia in the 1940s with her architect husband. He joined the Public Service and she began to work as a freelance illustrator, her major client being the Sydney printing and publishing firm John Sands. She wrote and illustrated Bush Haven Animals (1954) and illustrated Little Brown Piccaninnies of Tasmania by Jane Ada Fletcher, Kurri Kurri the Kookaburra and Two Thumbs the Koala (1950 and 1951) by Leslie Rees, John of the “Sirius” and John and Nanbaree (1955 and 1962) by Doris Chadwick, Cousins-Come-Lately (1952) by Eve Pownall and, she said, 'my old favourite, Eve Pownall’s first Australia Book ' (1952).
After her husband died of multiple sclerosis in 1968, Senior devoted herself to Australian wildlife studies, most notably posters for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. Other posters included a series issued by the NSW Bush Fire Committee such as Prevent Bush Fires (n.d., Josef Lebovic Gallery), all featuring 'Smokey Bear’. Until 1970 Senior was a regular illustrator for the NSW School Magazine . She lived at Collaroy Plateau, on Sydney’s northern beaches until her death in 1995.
- Writers:
- Kerr, Joan
- Date written:
- 1995
- Last updated:
- 2011
