Born in Yorkshire UK, Michael Anvil arrived in Australia in 1963. Living in the old whaling station of Albany, Western Australia for a while, the family finally settled in Adelaide, South Australia. After avoiding as much of high school as possible chasing the surf in his home state and Victoria, he attended the South Australian School of Art, studying painting and printing. Both he and his wife Kathy lived in Invercargill, on the South Island of New Zealand for a few years, before returning to Sydney. Kathy teaching mathematics in a private school and Michael, ostensibly working as an artist, but mostly throwing the Sydney Morning Herald out of a Mini Moke on a pre-dawn paper round. Returning to Adelaide, working full time as an artist, he helped establish a group studio and worked teaching art to students for many years. A keen musician, he plays guitar, the clarinet and harmonicas. The past decade has seen Michael and his wife share time between their home in Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills and an old apple barn on the waterfront of the Huon River estuary in southern Tasmania. He is bitten by the classic car bug and has an historic wooden, gaff-rigged fishing boat, both of which demand continuous amounts of money to maintain. They have one son who works within the film industry, along with a cat, Daisy, and a little dog, Sally, who both work full time demanding food and attention.
