Born in Sydney in 1867, Robert Randolph Garran was the sixth child of Andrew Garran and Mary Isham (nee Sabine). He was educated at Sydney Grammar School and the University of Sydney, earning a B.A. and an M.A. at the latter institution. He was admitted to the NSW Bar in 1891. In the late 1890s he was instrumental in the drafting and amending of the Federation bill and the Australian Constitution. He married Hilda Robson on April 7, 1902. In 1916 Garran was appointed solicitor-general and the following year was knighted. In the 1920s and 1930s he was a staunch advocate of the establishment of a national university for Canberra and became the Australian National University's first graduate, receiving an honorary Doctorate of Laws.
In 1924 Garran published a volume of translations of Heinrich Heine's, The Book of Songs and his Schubert and Schumann: Songs and Translations (Melbourne University Press, 1946) was reprinted in 1972. Much of his verse is reproduced in Noel Francis's literary biography, The Gifted Knight. He died in Canberra on January 11, 1957.
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