His dissatisfaction with the materialism and shallowness of what he calls the "Great Australian Emptiness" is palpable in the essay "The Prodigal Son" (1958), in which he expresses significant concerns about the country's future. Patrick White was born on 16 January 1920 in Richmond, Melbourne, the only child of Elizabeth (Lily) née O'Reilly and William White, a clerk with the Victorian Railways. He was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended St Mary's Primary School in Fitzroy before going to Saint Joseph's College, East Melbourne, where he learned French and Latin. In 1939, at the age of 18, he entered the University of Melbourne, where he studied literature and psychology for two years before withdrawing to work as an assistant surveyor on rural roads. It was here that he fell in love with nature studies and acquired a strong interest in archaeology. In 1947, he married Eileen Dulane (died 1981), with whom he had three children: Catherine, Timothy, and Virginia. The following year, he obtained his master's degree in psychology from the University of Melbourne. He then worked as a school psychologist for four years before being appointed director of education at Penguin Books in 1951. Over the next few years, he wrote short stories and articles for newspapers and magazines such as The Age, The Bulletin, and The Sydney Morning Herald.