Ladds was born on the goldfields in Western Australia and educated at Swamp Oak and Tamworth, New South Wales. He went to sea from Newcastle, aged fifteen, as a sailor on the barque
County of Anglesea, bound for South America with a cargo of coal. Seven years of wandering followed, during which time, as sailor and stoker, he twice circumnavigated the globe and visited more than thirty countries, working ashore in some of them. He was foreman on a large cotton plantation in Mexico and lumber jack in the forests of Oregon, and beachcombed in many ports. Returning to Australia, he went sheep and wheat farming in the Gunneddah district of New South Wales. While there he wrote his book.
I'll Go No More A-Roving. He later became a banana grower while continuing to write for
The Queenslander.
