AustLit

Son of author Angela Thirkell and brother of writer Colin MacInnes 2Y)(qq.v.), Graham McInnes arrived in Australia with his mother, stepfather and brother in the troop ship Friedrichsruh in 1920. Despite his short time in Australia, four of the five volumes of autobiography published in the 1960s are largely about his experiences growing up in Melbourne in the 1920s. After completing his education at Scotch College, Melbourne, McInnes won scholarships to the University of Melbourne and graduated with a BA in 1933 with first-class honours in history and English. Although he stayed longer in Australia after the return to England in 1930 of his mother, brother and stepbrother, McInnes left Australia in 1934 to look for his father in Canada. He returned for short visits in the 1950s and in 1969. While in Canada he worked at the National Film Board and wrote One Man's Documentary : A Memoir of the Early Years of the National Film Board (2005) an account of the activities and personnel of the early days of the National Film Board of Canada (1939-1947).