Peter Patrick Pinney was a traveller, writer, and soldier. "He was a prototype for the hippie-trail-style travellers of later decades" (ADB). He was born in Sydney in 1922, the son of Charles Pinney and Mary Desmond (nee Murray). His maternal grandfather was Sir Hubert Murray, the lieutenant-governor of Papua. Charles Pinney also served in the Territory of Papua and held office as administrator of Norfolk Island from 1932 to 1937.
Peter Pinney received some early schooling in Port Moresby, but later boarded at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, Sydney from 1934 to 1939. During WWII he served in the Middle East and in New Guinea. His illegal wartime diaries were later published as the memoir by the imaginary ‘Signaller Johnston’ as the The Barbarians (1988), The Glass Cannon (1990), and The Devils’ Garden (1992).
After WWII Pinney was able to pursue a life of world travel and adventure, working in many different jobs. The first of his twelve books was Dust on My Shoes (1952) describing his travels from Greece to Burma (Myanmar) between 1948 and 1950. His other published works include Who Wanders Alone (1954), Anywhere but Here (1956), and a novel, Ride the Volcano (1960). Pinney then settled in Australia and together with his second wife Estelle Runcie wrote Too Many Spears (1978), about Frank Jardine’s life at Cape York from 1864 to 1874. In later years Pinney wrote scripts for television series, including for The Sullivans and The Flying Doctors. He died in 1992.