Born in Melbourne, R. S. Porteous had a varied working life. He served in the Australian Light Horse during World War I, worked on a cattle-station, and spent periods at sea, serving in the navy and then as the First Mate of a cargo ship supplying troops in New Guinea during World War II. He began writing while at sea, and published a series of short stories in the Bulletin, often under the name 'Standby'. As 'Standby', he published fiction and short stories influenced by his sea experiences, and under his own name wrote two novels of cattle-station life. He also wrote adventure novels for young people. His novel Sailing Orders (1949) won the lucrative second prize in the Sydney Morning Herald's Competition for war stories, and Cattleman (1960) the Courier Mail's centenary novel competition. A factual piece by Porteous, 'A Casualty in Palestine', appeared in the anthology Australia at Arms (Bartlett, N. ed., 1955).
