Ron Hurley is from the Goreng Goreng people on his mother's side, and the Mununjali people on his father's side.
Hurley graduated with a Degree in Visual Arts from the Queensland College of Art in 1975, where he was the first Indigenous person to graduate. He furthered his education at Brisbane College of Advanced Education Kelvin Grove from 1976 to 1977
Hurley was active in the Arts world and was the first Aboriginal member of the Board of Trustees of the Queensland Art Gallery from 1996 to 1997. He also chaired the Visual Arts Committee of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts from 1993 to 1996.