Kilmeny Niland


Kilmeny Niland was an Australian artist and illustrator. While best known for her children's book illustrations, she worked in a wide range of genres, including animation, wildlife art, miniatures, portraits, cards and prints. She won numerous prizes in national and international competitions, and one of her portraits was purchased by Australia's National Portrait Gallery, in Canberra.
With her twin sister, Deborah, she illustrated a children's version of Banjo Paterson's poem Mulga Bill's Bicycle.

Life

Kilmeny Niland, and her twin sister, Deborah, were born in Auckland, New Zealand, to New Zealand-born Australian author Ruth Park and her husband, author and journalist, D'Arcy Niland. She had three older siblings, Anne, Rory and Patrick, who had been born in Australia.
The family returned to Sydney and lived in Neutral Bay and then Balgowlah Heights. The twins were educated at Saint Cecilia's Primary School and Stella Maris College. Both then studied art at the Julian Ashton Art School.
Their father died in 1967, and some time after their mother took them to London with their brother Patrick who had been offered a place at the Royal Academy of Music.
Kilmeny Niland married writer and researcher, Rafe Champion, in 1979. They had four sons, Leo, Hugh, Patrick and Tom.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1991. In May 2008, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and died of the disease in February 2009.

Career

Kilmeny and Deborah started their career by working freelance in London. Their first collaboration, The Little Goat, was published in 1971. By this time, the sisters were back in Australia, living in Cremorne. They collaborated on eleven more books. They also worked on animation at Eric Porter's studios in Sydney.
During her lifetime, she published 47 books: 12 were illustrated by her with Deborah, 13 were written and illustrated by her, and 34 were texts by others which she illustrated.

Awards and nominations

As illustrator