Brett Whiteley was born on 7 April 1939 at Longueville, Sydney. From 1948 he attended The Scots School, in Bathurst and Sydney, NSW, completing the Leaving Certificate in 1955.  In 1959 he was awarded the Italian Government Travelling Art Scholarship. Whiteley left Australia for Italy in January 1960. There he had studios in Rome, where his mother Beryl visited him, and later in Florence. In June his father Clem Whitely, and his girlfriend Wendy Julius, arrived in Paris.

Wendy returned with Brett to Florence. From July to September 1960, Whiteley exhibited work in a group show in London. In August, he and Michael Johnson spent three days visiting the Venice Biennale, and in November Brett and Wendy moved to London where they married on 27 March 1962. From April to September, the couple travelled through Europe with Clem during his second visit to Europe. After Clem's return to Australia, the Whiteleys spent five months in Sigean, France, before travelling to the United States where they visited Beryl Whiteley and her partner John McCarthy. They returned to London in November 1962.  In 1963 Whiteley's work was selected for inclusion in the 'Australian painting' exhibition at the Tate Gallery, London, and 'British painting in the 60s' at Whitechapel Gallery, London.

On 6 November 1964, the Whiteleys' daughter Arkie was born in London, and the family returned to Australia in December 1963. During May to June 1967, they travelled in Majorca, Tangier and Spain, before sailing to New York in September where they lived in a penthouse apartment at the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan. In July 1969, Brett travelled to Fiji, and was later joined by Wendy and Arkie where they stayed in Navutuleva village for five months. They sailed from Fiji to Australia and moved to Lavender Bay, Sydney. During the 1970s Whiteley continued to work and exhibit. In 1976 Whiteley was awarded both the Archibald prize for Self-portrait in the studio and the Sulman Prize for Interior with time past.  In 1977 he travelled to London, and spent the summer with his close friend the sculptor Joel Ellenberg, at Arthur Boyd's Italian house in Pisa. Brett moved into a studio in Reibey Place, Circular Quay in 1981. In 1985 the Whiteleys' purchased an old factory in Raper Street, Surry Hills, which they converted into a studio. Wendy and Brett separated during the 1980s, and divorced in 1989.

Brett Whiteley died tragically at Thirroul, NSW, in 1992.  In 1999, Beryl Whiteley established the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, awarded annually to a young Australian artist.

Beryl Whiteley was not your typical mother; a childhood contemporary of Brett Whiteley’s recalled her as a cool beauty, like an untouchable movie star who seemed to be rarely at home. After working as a theatre manager at the Orpheum in Cremorne and North Sydney, Clem Whitleley settled into the role of advertising manager at Hoyts. With Beryl, who was in charge of sales and marketing, Clem also established a printing business that published children's books.

In the 1940 and 50s, the Sydney suburb of Longueville was like a harbourside village. The Whiteleys lived on the eastern, riverside of Kenneth Street, but Clem and Beryl’s home looked like houses you saw only in art books, or magazine articles about California. Beryl Whiteley’s kitchen was a world away from the ordinary suburban Australian home: bright, snow white and light, with an electric fridge, an electric can opener and a milkshake machine. Nothing about the Whitleley family was typical – in 1948, Brett was just nine when he was sent far from home to boarding school.

In January 1950, Beryl and Clem travelled to America for five months, looking for innovative business ideas to introduce to Australia. They returned with outdoor patio furniture – lighting, fountains and dinner services. They established the Californian Outdoor Furniture Shop, at Newport on the northern beaches of Sydney, which proved extremeley popular with the burgeoning beach lifestyle.

Beryl and Clem Whiteley separated in 1957, and Beryl left Australia for an extended holiday in Britain. Via telegram, Brett, 17, gave his mother an ultimatum – if she was leaving home for good, then he would leave school. This blackmail attempt failed, and Beryl continued on her journey. Later, in 1960, during his Italian Government Travelling Art Scholarship, mother and son lived together in Rome, in an apartment near the Spanish Steps. Over the next 25 years Beryl lived mostly in London and New York, only returning to Australia in the 1990s.

Beryl Whitely outlived both her ex-husband and her son. Brett Whiteley died tragically in 1992 and, in 1999, Beryl Whiteley established the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, awarded annually to a young Australian artist.