Born in Maitland, New South Wales, he was educated at The Scots College in Sydney before moving to Evergreen in Queensland to become a grazier.

He left school at the age of fourteen and joined his father working at Booralong, a pastoral lease near Westwood, Queensland.

Their development of the property included "large-scale clearing of brigalow, the eradication of prickly pear, ringbarking, pasture improvement, dry land cotton farming and the evolution of a Devon beef cattle stud".

He served on the Fitzroy Shire Council for thirteen years and was also a member of the executive of the United Graziers' Association of Queensland.

[3] In 1939, Lawrie married Margaret Hayes, a schoolteacher who later became a prominent amateur anthropologist working in the Torres Strait Islands.