He was the son of Caroline Vilhelmine (née Hansen) and Georg Peter Bjelke-Petersen; his father was a gardener and builder.

In 1902 he conducted one of the first anthropometric surveys of Australian schoolchildren, a series of measurements of the physical attributes and racial origins of boys in Hobart.

Their premises expanded to include "squash and basketball courts, [...] departments for remedial exercises, orthopaedic massage and electrical treatment".

[1] From the 1920s onwards, Bjelke-Petersen's institutes increasingly focused on women, with his physical culture system evolved into a form of dance-based aerobics nicknamed "physie".

[1] In 1911, Bjelke-Petersen was appointed by the Fisher government as director of a physical training scheme within the Department of Defence, despite objections that he was not a native-born citizen.

[1] In 1933, Bjelke-Petersen married Dorothy Gertrude Leonie Henri,[1] a theological college student who claimed descent from French nobility.

[1] Bjelke-Petersen retired back to Tasmania where he was involved with the Pocket Testament League and Christian youth organisations.