[4][5] Herbert attended Caulfield state school until the early deaths of his parents forced him to leave at the age of 12 and take a job in a grocery store in Glenhuntly.

On 8 May 1912 at her parents' home at Galaquil he married with Methodist forms 18-year-old Amelia Mary Barratt (died 1968); their son and daughter were to predecease him, to his deep distress.

In 1929, with the aid of preferences from the Labor Party, Hyland defeated the sitting Nationalist member for the seat of Gippsland South and entered state parliament.

In the early years of Sir Henry Bolte's Liberal government, Hyland took advantage of the premier's inexperience to extract concessions, especially relating to freight charges.

Sir Herbert Hyland died on 18 March 1970 at Prahran, Victoria; he was accorded a state funeral and was cremated with Anglican rites.