James (Jim) Crawford played a significant role in Australian working class theatre, especially in Brisbane. He was born in Manchester and came to Australia as a teenager. During the 1930s, Crawford became a member of the Communist Party of Australia. He traveled the eastern coast of Australia as far north as Cairns, performing in The Roving Red Revue Company, of which he was a founder. By the late 1930s he was a columnist for the Victorian 'Guardian', and in the early 1940s he moved from Melbourne to Brisbane. He became an active member and playright for the Brisbane New Theatre Club. During this period he married Pamela Mary Seeman, who was also involved in theatre. Crawford was a columnist for the Queensland 'Guardian'. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Walter Egan, Mopoke, and John Woolley.

Pamela Crawford (née Seeman) was born in Brisbane in 1921. She was a painter and stage designer. The 1940s in Brisbane were marked by a surge in artistic exploration, and Pamela Crawford was involved with two central aspects of this, the literary journal Barjai and the Miya Studio. In 1949 the Miya Studio merged with the New Theatre Club to become the Artists' Group of the New Theatre Club. Pamela Crawford continued to exhibit, worked as a stage designer, and with her husband Jim Crawford was an active participant in left-wing sponsored cultural and political activities. In 1988, Pamela Crawford donated a large number of artworks from the Miya Studio to the University of Queensland Art Museum. As an artist, Pamela Crawford was known as Pamela Seeman.