Gerhard (Garry) Fabian was born into a German Jewish family of longstanding. After the passage of the anti Jewish Social Laws in the mid 1930s his family moved to Czechoslovakia where they bought a surgical instrument factory. When the Germans occupied the Sudetenland in 1938 the family moved to Prague until they were taken to Theresienstadt in 1942. At the conclusion of the war the Fabian family migrated to Australia where they settled in Melbourne. Fabian became an apprentice electrician in 1950 and after completing his apprenticeship joined his father's medical supplies firm. After national service in the navy he married in 1959. A career change in 1979 enabled him to travel widely across Australia. In the following year, with the benefit of his electrical background, he joined the German owned firm of GEC as a product manager in the industrial products division. After four years he began to write and publish technical articles. In 1985 he joined the Simplex firm where he was able to utilize his sales and technical experience.
Fabian undertook tertiary studies by distance education at Deakin University and graduated in 1989 in Journalism, Literature and Australian Studies. In 1993 he graduated with a Master of Arts degree from Monash University and subsequently undertook freelance journalism. In 2001 he visited Stuttgart as an official guest of the city. In 2002 his autobiography was read at the MAKOR Jewish Community Library. In 2003 his autobiography was read at The Prahran Mechanics Institute Library and for the Write Now radio program on Southern FM 88.3. He has subscribed as a member of The Fellowship of Australian Writers, The Australian Society of Authors and The Society of Editors.