In 1872 Richard was a student at St Peter's College, Adelaide, and was captain of the school's football team.

Twopeny spent part of his childhood in France and was educated at Marlborough College, England, until 1875 and the Ruprecht-Karl-Universität, Heidelberg, Germany.

He arrived in Melbourne on the Northumberland on 15 May 1876 and soon moved to Adelaide where he worked on the South Australian Register from 1876 to 1877.

[6] The book was hailed by the British Quarterly Review as a welcome change from the "sketches of bush life" that were commonly published about Australia in Britain at the time.

"[8] As Twopeny studied in Paris, he could write in French; subsequently, he wrote L'Australie Meridionale about life in South Australia.