His family moved to north-western Victoria when he was a boy, but his parents died when he was in his early teens, and he had to fend for himself, becoming a rural labourer.
[1] During the Depression years he held a variety of jobs in the countryside and his interest in writing led him to work at a newspaper in Forbes, New South Wales.
Shaw had several stories published by The Bulletin and eventually was employed by the magazine as a rural editor.
He wrote a novel, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, published in 1952, about a U.S. Marine and a nun on a Japanese-held Pacific island.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium in 1957.