Bill Harney was a drover, bushman, soldier in the First World War, and a patrol officer in the Native Affairs Branch of the Northern Territory. He was also a member of several UN expeditions into Arnhem Land, curator of Uluru [then called Ayers Rocks] reservation, and an ardent supporter of the cause of Aboriginal people, to whom he was known as 'Bilarni'.
He wrote extensively on his wanderings and life among Aboriginal people, and also worked as a broadcaster both in Australia and for the BBC. At Groote Eylandt on 5 April, 1927, Bill married Linda Beattie, who was of Aboriginal heritage. They had two children, a daughter, Beattie, and a son, Billy. However, Linda fell ill with osteo-tuberculosis and died in 1930. Beattie died at five years of age from T.B., and in 1945 the teenaged Billy accidentally drowned whilst trying to rescue a young boy in the Todd River.
