Bernard Archer was born at Toowoomba, but grew up in Tasmania, where he attended Launceston Grammar School. During World War I he enlisted in the Australian army and served in the 12th Battalion A.I.F. in Egypt and then France, where he was severely wounded at Bullecourt. Following the war, Archer initially tried his hand as an orchardist in the Tamar Valley in Tasmania, however he subsequently returned to Queensland where he found employment as a bush worker, before failing health led to his hospitalisation. At the time of his death Archer had completed the manuscript of a second book of poems (which included an introduction by General Sir John Monash), however it appears to have remained unpublished. Archer also wrote the lyrics for the song 'Ma Cherie' (score by Melrose Carr), which featured in a version of the play Monsieur Beaucaire, which ran in London in ca.1918. He spent the final period of his life at the Ardoyne Red Cross Home for returned servicemen at Chelmer, in Brisbane.
