English-born Fred'rick L. Nathan was a bell-hop on deep-sea liners and a ring-boy in a circus before enlisting in the British Royal Marines. He migrated to Australia during the Great Depession. After working as a salesman and on stage and radio productions, Nathan became a professional writer. He was the General Manager of the Central Broadcasting Network from 1961 to 1963 and Press Secretary for the Queensland Education Minister from 1967 to 1979.
As well as the works listed here, there are nine radio plays and numerous short stories and sea shanties listed in the front of Nathan's autobiography. Reference to these works has not been found elsewhere. Who's Who of Australian Writers (Thorpe, 1991) mentions two books of verse, Verse on Detour (1945) and Traveller's Verse (1946). These, and a third, Thru Humour to Survival (no date) are also listed at the front of Nathan's autobiography, but none of the three has been traced.
