[1] Denholm was born in Maryborough, Queensland,[2] and was a scholarship boy at the Brisbane Church of England Grammar School.
[3] Denholm was an adult learner who entered Queensland University in 1964, graduating in 1967.
John Hirst, writing in The Monthly in 2006, placed it on his brief list of the best Australian history books of all-time.
[6] He first came to national and international attention with his debut novel, The Last Blue Sea (1959, written under the pen-name "David Forrest"), about the conflict between Australia and Japan during World War II.
"[8] He also wrote The Hollow Woodheap (1962), and a notable short story The Barambah Mob (1963), a humorous (and often anthologised) cricketing tale.