Educated at De La Salle College, Armidale (New South Wales) and the Marist Brothers' College, Darlinghurst (Sydney), Richard Barry was said to have been inspired by ambition to become a writer from an early age. His works began to appear in various newspapers and periodicals from his early twenties.
Barry died in July 1937, shortly after completing his only play, The Jackaroo. It was was soon afterwards purchased by the Australian Broadcasting Commission and given its first broadcast in early January 1938. The play's popularity saw it revived a few months later as part of the ABC's 1938 Radio Drama Week.
[Source: 'Radio Drama Week : Untimely Death of Young Playwright.' The Mercury 12 May 1938, 3.