Porter left his family's Central Queensland property as a young man and spent some years working in outback Queensland as a horse-breaker, kangaroo shooter and later trying his luck in the the Western Australian goldfields. He served for two tours of duty in the Boer War, firstly sailing from Sydney in the New South Wales Citizens' Bushmen contingent in 1900 aboard the troopship Maplemore. Porter was invalided back to Australia in August the same year but re-enlisted, this time in the Third New South Wales Imperial Bushmen contingent. On his return to Australia he joined the New South Wales Mounted Police, serving for almost 25 years, mostly in the bush. Porter published his first Bulletin piece in 1903, using the pseudonym 'Spinifex'.
