His grandfather, Robert Clunies Ross, was a brother of John Clunies-Ross, who settled with his family and crew on Cocos (Keeling) Islands in 1826-7 and proclaimed a kingdom.

Clunies Ross was educated at Newington College (1912–1916)[2] and in 1917 he entered the University of Sydney, in the Agriculture Faculty, and transferred to veterinary science at the beginning of 1918, graduating with second class honours in 1920.

[1] In 1921, Clunies Ross was given a temporary lectureship in veterinary anatomy; the following year he was made a Fellow of The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, allowing him to a travel overseas.

He spent a year working on animal parasites at the Molteno Institute for Research in Parasitology in Cambridge and the School of Tropical Medicine in London.

When he returned to Sydney he set up a veterinary practice, lectured at the university and continued his own research on the hydatid parasite (Echinococcus granulosus), the liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica), and the dog-tick (Ixodes holocyclus).

Work at the McMaster Laboratory on the control of sheep liver-fluke, made a significant improvement to animal health and the returns from agriculture in the 1930s.

[5] The two met in person to discuss the disparity in pay and working conditions between male and female employees of CSIRO, but this did not result in change to the status quo.

[6] When Payne-Scott's marriage and pregnancy were revealed, the two had a hostile exchange of letters, and CSIRO consequently deprived her of permanent employee status and pension funds.