One of four children,[2] he grew up in South Perth, known then as the Queen Suburb,[3] when the area was semi-rural, with market gardens.
In 1932 he joined the printing staff of the Perth evening newspaper the Daily News, working as a linotype mechanic.
His war experiences formed the basis of the 1952 novel The Ridge and the River, described by Edward 'Weary' Dunlop as capturing "the essence of jungle warfare as it was fought by Australians".
[7] After the war, Hungerford joined the British Commonwealth Occupation force in Japan, and remained with it from 1945 to 47.
[9] In 1951 Hungerford joined the Australia News and Information Bureau, where he stayed for 15 years; following which he worked as a freelancer.
In the 1970s Hungerford worked as a press secretary to Western Australian Premiers John Tonkin and Sir Charles Court.
[5] Hungerford began writing as a teenager and had his first published short story in 1942 in the Sydney Bulletin.
Sowers in the Wind, was held back by publisher Angus & Robertson because it dealt with the economic and sexual exploitation of the Japanese after the War by Australian occupation forces.
[10][11] Monash University's Robin Gerster told The Age in 2002: "Hungerford... wrote very perceptively and affectionately about the Japanese, which is not a bad effort for someone who fought them."