George Henry Johnston, auther of My Brother Jack, Clean Straw for Nothing and A Carload of Clay, became a cadet reporter for Melbourne's Argus newspaper and later a war correspondent in 1942, later joining the Sydney Morning Herald in 1947. He wrote several novels with his wife Charmian Clift and later lived on the Greek island of Hydra from 1954-1964. He wrote a number of detective thrillers under the pseudonym of Shane Martin and in 1964 published his acclaimed autobiography My Brother Jack, which won the Miles Franklin Award followed on his return to Australia in 1964 by its equally awarded sequel Clean Straw for Nothing.