Allan Skerman grew up on a series of farms in Queensland, and became a 'Tobruk Rat' (an infantryman in World War II). He worked as a public servant with the repatriation departments in Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria, and later with the Australian Archives. Skerman is a life member of the Records Management Association, Australia. He wrote Record Management : An Examination of Some Aspects of the Theory and Practice of Registry Operation (1960) and Repatriation in Australia (1961).