[2] Cameron's father was a pastoralist of Scottish descent who had been born in British Guiana and arrived in Victoria as a child.

Cameron spent his early childhood at Kensington Downs, a family-owned grazing property near Longreach.

[1] Cameron volunteered for the Queensland Imperial Bushmen in the Second Boer War and with American forces in China during the Boxer Rebellion.

He was shot through the liver and lung at the Battle of Gallipoli, and finished the First World War as a lieutenant colonel in command of the 5th Light Horse Regiment.

[5] During World War II, Cameron was chairman of the New South Wales recruiting committee for the Royal Australian Air Force.