E. M. Kelsall grew up in Echuca and worked in the Echuca/Moama district primarily as a bargee on the Murray River. Living in retirement at Blairgowrie, Victoria, Kelsall took up the challenge of writing his life story after years of telling the yarns of rivermen and bushmen to his family. To assist in the writing process, Kelsall joined a writing class on the Mornington Peninsula. Kelsall's love of rivers and riverboats also finds it way into his paintings.