Herbert Moran was the second son of Michael Moran (d.1951), an Irish-born baker, and his Australian wife Annie, née Quain (d.1890). He was educated at Darlington Public School, St Aloysius' College, Surry Hills, and briefly at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, before attending the University of Sydney. A distinguished cancer specialist and well-known rugby union player, Moran served in the First World War. He subsequently worked in Italy, Abyssinia and England, occasionally returning to Australia.
Beyond the Hill Lies China, the most fictionalised of his books, describes social conditions and medical practice in Sydney before the First World War and includes a character study of C.J. Brennan (q.v.) as Charles Maginn.
[Details from Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 10, and Oxford Companion to Australian Literature].
