Born in Fitzroy, the second son of four children of Herbert James Buchanan, a pastry-cook, and Emily Jane, his family later moved to Clifton Hill.

[1] In 1923, Buchanan commenced work for a shipping and import firm, as a junior salesman of bicycles, hardware, cars and motorcycles.

He returned to become a farmer at Beaconsfield, where his wife bred Saanen goats, and was an organiser of the Liberal Party in Victoria.

He contested the seat as an independent, and lost, finishing last in a field of five candidates with only 6.3 percent of the vote.

However, his preferences ultimately helped elect Country Party candidate Arthur Hewson.