roslyn oxley was born in sydney as roslyn walton and is the daughter of john robert walton, founder of the australian department store waltons. from 1957 to 1960, oxley studied art and design at east sydney technical college, now the national art school. for the next two decades she worked as an interior designer in sydney, melbourne and new york city for firms and designers including peddle thorp & walker (now ptw architects and raymond loewy). in 1970 she married anthony oxley and together they co-founded roslyn oxley9 gallery in 1982.