John Beede grew up in Coogee, New South Wales, and was educated at Christian Brothers, Waverley. He left school at the beginning of the Great Depression. Work was hard to find until he began working as a travelling salesman for Electrolux in 1932.
Beede joined the Royal Australian Air Force in the early years of World War II and was posted to Britain. He flew from March 1842 until September 1944. His war experience inspired his novel They Hosed Them Out (1965).
Source: Kerry McCouat, 'About the Author : A Memoir by His Daughter', They Hosed Them Out (2012 ed.): 346-359
