Since the late nineteenth century, Australian writing has been championed by many "practical idealists," among them the literary figure known variously as "P.R.S.," "Inky," or P. R. Stephensen. Writer, polemicist, publisher, and political radical, Stephensen wrote at least one book of enduring value to Australian cultural history and lived a life that earned the title bestowed on him by his biographer, Craig Munro: "Wild Man of Letters."

Percival Reginald Stephensen's father, Christian Stephensen, was the son of a Dane (family name Steffensen) who had settled in Biggenden, near Maryborough in Queensland. Christian Stephensen married Marie-Louise Tardent, daughter of a Swiss immigrant, Henry Tardent, whose organizational abilities and cultural flair were carried on by his grandson. Born in 1901, the year of the official federation of the six Australian colonies, Percival Stephensen spent his early childhood in the Queensland bush, attending Biggenden primary school before receiving a boarding...