(1901-50), born Buckinghamshire, England, became a minister in the Baptist Church and arrived in Australia in 1936, serving as a padre in the RAAF in the Second World War. A prolific writer of adventure and romance fiction, Kirby published such books as
Basing House (1943),
Beau-fighter (1943, on the war in New Guinea),
Pearl Harbour Pilot (1944, about American pilots in the New Guinea campaign),
So Lovers Dream (1945),
Girl of the Sierras (1946) and
Wind of the Morning (1950).