Born in Victoria, William Arthur Kernick grew up in Bundanoon, New South Wales and moved to Western Australia around 1907. He settled with his young family in Dwellingup and worked in the timber industry. Deaf since childhood, Kernick became an avid reader and particularly admired Henry Lawson.
Kernick's poetry was published in the South-Western Advertiser from 1912 onwards. He wrote under a variety of pseudonyms, the favourite one being 'Collie King', the name of an axe used in the timber trade. He moved around the timber area - up to Armadale, across to Bakers Hill, down to Manjimup, and at some stage even back to New South Wales. Kernick had several accidents, and in later life his writing dwindled to almost nothing.
