A feast of Australian 1920s and 30s art dominated by outstanding pictures by Roy de Maistre and Margaret Preston is a highlight of Deutscher and Hackett’s Sydney art sale on August 28.

The collection was formed by Ken and Joan Plomley, who met when both were serving with the Naval Victualling Laboratory in Melbourne in the 1940s, helping develop war-time survival packages for fighting or wounded men. They married in 1946, soon after Sydney-born Ken left to join the CSIRO, where he became a principal research scientist and ultimately did pioneering work on wood composites and adhesives.