AustLit

Quentin Hole was an author, illustrator of children's books, and costume and set designer. He spent his childhood on a sheep station and received his primary school education through the Queensland correspondence school. He attended Brisbane Boys College as a boarder for his secondary education.

During the World War II, Hole served with the Australian Army and afterwards undertook a course in commercial art at Brisbane Technical College Art School. There he concentrated on painting and design. He then travelled around Queensland and New South Wales painting and exhibiting. In 1953 he went to London where he worked for two years at the Central School of Art, and exhibited at the Imperial Institute Galleries. Hole, in collaboration with Don Cowen, painted two murals for the Geology Museum at the University of Queensland. The first mural, painted in 1951, is on the theme of 'The Age of Reptiles', while the second, painted in 1952, is on 'The Age of Mammals', particularly focusing on the local megafauna. Hole independently painted a third mural in 1958, depicting the pliosaur Kronosaurus queenslandicus.

On his return to Australia Hole painted, taught and designed for Brisbane theatrical productions, including Aristophanes' Lysistrata at the Twelfth Night Theatre. In 1958 he moved to Melbourne and took up the position of designer for the Union Theatre Company. In 1962 he joined the staff of the Australian Broadcasting Commission where he designed sets for period dramas and operas including Seven Little Australians, Ride on Stranger and Madame Butterfly. Hole has also designed productions for the Australian Opera.

During the 1970s, Hole's friend Anne Ingram (q.v.), Children's Editor of William Collins, encouraged him to illustrate children's books. The first text he chose was The Man From Ironbark by A. B. Paterson (q.v.) and his illustrated version subsequently won the 1975 Australian Picture Book of the Year Award.