He attended Broken Hill High School and served in the Australian Army in the Second World War.
[2] A Royal Commission conducted by Sir Laurence Street into the alleged involvement of both Farquhar and Premier of New South Wales Neville Wran in the acquittal of former head of the Australian Rugby League Kevin Humphreys,[3] who was on fraud charges, resulted in Farquhar in March 1985 being sentenced to four years' gaol for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
[4] During his trial, it became clear that Farquhar had deep roots in the criminal community, including connections to George Freeman and Nick Paltos.
[5] Much of the investigative work in the Farquhar case was due to the efforts of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Four Corners program and The Sun-Herald newspaper.
He had a fatal heart attack on 3 December 1993 while on trial for conspiracy to obtain stolen passports.