David Harford was the eldest of twelve children of Stephen Harford, who arrived in South Australia in 1837 and worked as a teamster and carrier, and his wife Margaret.
Harford appears to have worked as a stonemason at Ororroo, South Australia, in the 1880s. He travelled extensively throughout Australia, including a trip across the Nullarbor from Streaky Bay to Kalgoorlie in 1904-1905, writing a verse journal of this journey. He also described, in retrospect, shorter trips made in 1848 to the Darling and Murray Rivers.
