| 1936 - 1938 | Studied industrial art on three-year scholarship at Swinburne Technical College, Victoria |
| 1940 - 1941 | Attended night classes at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School |
| 1942 - 1945 | Nursed at the Epworth Hospital in Richmond, Victoria |
| 1946 | First exhibition of botanical art at Georges Gallery in Melbourne |
| 1948 - 1950 | Joined the University of Melbourne Botany school summer expeditions to the Bogong High Plains, Victoria |
| 1952 - 1981 | Moved to England and worked independently for the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and other botanical institutions |
| 1956 - 1981 | Principal contributing artist to Curtis's Botanical Magazine |
| 1957 | Commissioned by Post Master General's Department in Canberra to prepare a set of floral designs for Australian stamps |
| 1967 - 1978 | Illustrated The Endemic Flora of Tasmania |
| 1976 | Veitch Silver Medal received from the Royal Horticultural Society, London |
| 1977 | Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) |
| 1977 - 1987 | Ten year contract to draw Louisiana Flora |
| 1979 | Represented in the Flowers in Art from East and West' at the British Museum, London (one of only seven contemporary artists) |
| 1980 | Principal exhibition at the Smithsonian in Washington DC, USA |
| 1985 | Principal exhibition at the Louisiana State Museum, USA |
| 1986 | Veitch Gold Medal received from the Royal Horticultural Society, London |
| 1986 | Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc (Hon)) received from Louisiana State University, USA |
| 1987 | Eloise Payne Luquer Medal received for special artistic achievement in the field of Botany. Awarded by the Garden Club of America |
| 1988 | Member of the Order of Australia (AM) |
| 1989 | Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc (Hon)) received from the University of Melbourne |
| 1991 | Exhibited 90 drawings of Louisiana Flora at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
