Iola Mathews OAM (nee Hack) is the great-great-granddaughter of John Barton Hack. She has a degree in history from Melbourne University and was a journalist with the Age newspaper for many years and the author of How to Use the Media in Australia (Penguin, 1991). She later worked at the Australian Council for Trade Unions as an industrial officer and advocate. More recently she wrote a memoir, My Mother, My Writing and Me (Michelle Anderson Publishing, 2009) and established writers' studios in the National Trust property Glenfern in East St Kilda. She lives in Melbourne with her husband Dr Race Mathews.
Dr Chris Durrant is an astrophysicist with a keen interest in the history of South Australia. He was born in England and worked at Cambridge University and in Freiberg, Germany, before coming to Australia in 1983. He is a former head of the School of Mathematics and Statistics at Sydney University and an author of several books on astrophysics. Since retirement he has pursued his interest in history and lives in Adelaide with his wife Kerry.