Hugh Anderson is a prolific writer of over 80 works embracing Australian biography, local and general history, biblography, folklore and folksong. He started writing in the 1940s as a student teacher in Victoria, Australia, and after writing Larrikin Crook: The Rise and Fall of Squizzy Taylor in 1971, in the same year went on to become a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. He was made Chair of the Committee of Inquiry into Folklife in Australia in 1986, and more recently, Hugh has been admitted to the prestigious degree of Doctor of Letters honoris causa at the University of Melbourne. He currently lives in Melbourne, where he is still working.