William Hamilton was born in Rockhampton in 1919. During World War II he worked in England as paymaster to a Royal Australian Air Force Unit. Itchy feet took him to China in 1947 as Financial Officer at the Australian Embassy in Nanking, then the capital city. It was a time of roaring inflation, political turmoil and great changes which saw Communist forces triumphant nationally in 1949. In 1950, he joined the administrative staff of the fledgling Australian National University in Canberra, where he worked as Bursar and later Registrar. He is a chartered accountant and an alumnus of the Harvard Business School.

Author's Pandanus publications

• Notes from Old Nanking 1947-1949: The Great Transition