Deasey attended Geelong Grammar School and served in the Australian Army. He spent several years after World War II in Europe, where he came in contact with other Australian expatriates as well as literary figures such as
Roy Campbell (q.v.) and
Richard Aldington (q.v.). After returning to Australia he wrote, taught and studied and, late in his life, drove taxis. Geoffrey Dutton has described him as "one of the most original and talented people I have ever met". (
La Trobe Library Journal No 37 Autumn 1986 p. 25)
