Tom was raised in Muttaburra on a sheep and cattle property. His first recollection of his creative impulse was sitting alone under the house drawing with a stick in the dirt while his parents argued violently as to whether or not they should sell the land.

On first coming to Sydney, in his twenties, the contrast of the lushness to the austerity and the harshness of rural life Tom felt he was arriving in Disneyland.

He decided to work exclusively in drawing – graphite on paper with the occasional acrylic wash. This allowed the precision to describe the minute and almost infinite detail of people’s lives in the suburbs.

He is represented in the AGNSW, Regional Galleries and other institutions.