Melbourne was Fred Williams’ place. There in the 1940s he attended the National Gallery School (1943–47) and the George Bell Art School (1946–50). He first exhibited in 1951 with colleagues Ian Armstrong and Harry Rosengrave at the Stanley Coe Gallery in Melbourne. In the 1950s Williams went to London to study. During this time he produced the Music Hall and London genre paintings and etchings which are an important part of his early output. Back in Australia landscape painting became the dominant theme for Williams and his career began to blossom. He was awarded the Helena Rubinstein Travelling Art Scholarship in 1963 and began to win various competitions, including the Transfield, Muswellbrook and Robin Hood Art Prizes in 1964, the Georges Invitation Art Prize, WD and HO Wills Art Prize, John McCaughey Prize and Art Gallery of New South Wales Trustees Watercolour Prize in 1966. He won the John McCaughey Prize again in 1971 and the Wynne Prize in 1967, 1976 and 1977. Williams served on various boards including the Commonwealth Arts Advisory Board and the Visual Art Board of the Australia Council. His work was included in major exhibitions within Australia and internationally, including a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (and touring) in 1976, the same year in which he was made Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). In 1980 he was awarded Doctorate of Law, LLD (Honoris Causa) by Monash University, Melbourne.

Fred Williams was a relatively young man when he died in his early 50s. His achievement was formidable and his ability to interpret the landscape was already recognised as visionary.