Stan Cawood

[3][4] Cawood was born in Bellingen, New South Wales and, after primary schooling there, he attended De La Selle Collage in Armidale and then St Joseph's College in Hunters Hill.

After completing his schooling he began working as a jackaroo in New South Wales before traveling to Kolkata, then known as Calcutta, in India to deliver 500 horses that had been sold to the Indian Army.

[3] Around the time that his father was appointed government resident Cawood moved to the Northern Territory where he worked as a jackaroo at Lake Nash Station, nearby to Alpurrurulam, where he was based for two years.

He would sometimes travel with the police officer, constable Harry Allen over the Sandover track, to visit his father in Alice Springs; their vehicle was the second to be able to cover this route.

[3] Later, in a newspaper report, Cawood recalled having seen Anderson and Hitchcock when they were refueling in Alice Springs before their crash and that he tried to impress on the importance of carrying ample water but that his warning was laughed off.