Neale Hunter graduated from Melbourne University in 1956 and studied Chinese and Japanese at Canberra University College before travelling extensively in Asia, the Middle East and Europe (1961-1962). He and his wife taught in France, England and Spain and at the Shanghai Foreign Languages Institute (1965-1966).
Hunter gained a PhD at the Australian National University (1973) and published several works on China, including: China Observed [by] Colin Mackerras and Neale Hunter (1968); Shanghai Journal; An Eyewitness Account of the Cultural Revolution [1969]; We the Chinese: Voices from China edited by Deirdre and Neale Hunter [1971] and China's New Society by Jocelyn Chey and Neale Hunter (1974). Hunter lectured in Politics at the University of Adelaide 1973-1980. He then retired to a property near the Murrumbidgee where he and his wife raised cattle, and where he developed a great interest in Australian bird life.
In his later years, Hunter self-published several volumes of poetry. His Neale Hunter's Last (1999) was followed by more volumes, one of which he described as his 'Posthumous' poems.
