Irena Sibley
Irena Sibley (born Irena Justina Pauliukonis; 16 June 1943 – 29 March 2009) was an Australian artist, writer, and illustrator of children’s books, and an art teacher. She was born in Lithuania to Zenonas and Anele Pauliukonis. Her family fled Lithuania in 1946 and moved to Australia, arriving in Sydney in 1949 after time in refugee camps in Europe. They lived in Bathurst and later settled in Cabramatta, Sydney.
Sibley earned a Fine Arts degree from the National Art School in Sydney in 1964. In 1967 she married artist Andrew Sibley. She helped start the art department at Burke Hall in Melbourne and taught there for about 13 years, then taught at Firbank Girls’ Grammar School from 1982 to 2007. The Sibley family lived in Albert Park and supported the Save Albert Park campaign against the Australian Grand Prix in the 1990s. They later ran a property and artists’ studio in Flowerdale, Victoria, known for its terraced gardens.
Her first book, Rainbow, appeared in 1980. She published more than a dozen children’s books, including The Bilbies’ First Easter (1994), When the Sun Took the Colours Away (1991), and Zara’s Zoo (2001). Her artwork used techniques such as hand-coloured linocuts, scratchboard, and acrylic painting, blending Eastern European printmaking influences with Australia’s environment. Her works are in the State Library of Victoria, the National Library of Australia, and many private collections. She also produced six handmade limited-edition books and numerous bookplates.
A committed environmentalist, Sibley celebrated Australia’s native flora and fauna and supported moves to replace the Easter Bunny with the Easter Bilby. She published three Easter Bilby books between 1994 and 2000: The Bilbies’ First Easter, The Bilby and the Bunyip, and Grandma Bilby Mr Budge and the Easter Tree. In 2008 she received the Keith Wingrove Award for book plate art for her work for artist Charles Blackman.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 19:20 (CET).