David Ramsay McNicoll attended Scotch College in Melbourne, where he developed a passion for writing - contributing essays, short stories, verse and editorials to the school magazine. An interest in journalism led McNicoll to a cadetship with the Sydney Morning Herald in 1933.
After enlisting in the army during World War II, and serving in the Middle East and Greece, David McNicoll became a war correspondent with the Daily Telegraph. He was editor-in-chief of Australian Consolidated Press from 1953-1974, when he stepped down and became a columnist and editorial consultant to the Bulletin. He was appointed as a founding member of the Australian Press Council in 1976 and remained a member until his retirement in1999.
David McNicoll was a republican and an advocate of free press and responsible journalism. Soon after his retirement in 2000, he was awarded the inaugural Australian Press Council Medal. He was the brother of Sir Alan Wedel Ramsay McNicoll (q.v.). In 2000, Scotch College created the David McNicoll Lecture series of annual celebrity talks, in honour of the author and journalist.
As well as those works listed, David McNicoll wrote the essay 'Playground for Sophisticates' as an introduction to a book of photographs by Alec Murray.
