Rex Ingamells, the son of a Methodist minister, was born at Orroroo and lived in regional areas of South Australia before coming to Princes, later serving as a member of staff from 1939 to 1942. He then undertook a BA at Adelaide University and proceeded to prepare his MA thesis on Australian history as a background to Australian literature, as a theme on which he would build his career as a writer and poet.
In 1938 he founded the Jindyworobak Movement, which aimed to write and publish verse, which they did on an annual basis, based on environmental values and using Australian imagery and elements of Aboriginal culture. The movement drew much criticism and was derided by AD Hope as the ‘Boy Scout school of poetry’.
Shortly before his death in a vehicle accident, Ingamells published a book-length poem tracing the history of Australia called The Great South Land, which won the Australian Literature Society’s gold medal.