A. A. Richards was born in Hornsby, and during the Depression he was taken from school and sent to work on a farm in Queensland. He remained there until 1940, when he enlisted in the Australian Infantry Forces. He was trained as a machine gunner in the Ammunition Company, 27th Brigade 8th Division, and he became a prisoner of war in Singapore in February 1942. As a prisoner of war, he was a member of the Changi fishing party, which had permission to catch fish for hospitalised Australian soldiers.
Richards' novel, Step Rails and Changi (2005), is based on his own war experiences. At the time of writing the novel, Richards lived in Bundaberg in Queensland.
