John Bray was born in Adelaide in 1912 and educated at the University of Adelaide. He was admitted to the bar in 1933 and obtained the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1937. In 1957 he was created Queen's Counsel and in 1967 was appointed Chief Justice of South Australia 1967, a post he held until his retirement in 1978. 'The Reported Judgements of the Honourable Justice John Bray, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia' was published in 1996. Between 1968 and 1982 he was Chancellor of the University of Adelaide and in 1979 he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. John Bray was a major contributor to the Friendly Street Poets. Many of his poems were influenced by or adapted from classical poetry in Greek, and major French and German poets. His style is satirical and earthy. Brian Matthews wrote in his introduction to Bray's Collected Poems 1962-1991 that his work is 'elegant, witty, profoundly moving, offbeat, maverick, and, above all, the serious, years-long project of a wonderful poet, a formidable intelligence and a great human being.' (xxi). John Bray was chosen as one of 150 great South Australians by a panel of The Advertiser senior writers to celebrate the 150th Anniversay of The Advertiser newspaper, 12 April 2008.