Stanley Gilbert Hawes was born in London in 1905. He spent his youth in Birmingham and worked for the city's council from 1922 to 1934. Hawes had an enthusiastic interest in cinema, co-founding the Birmingham Film Society in 1931. In the late 1930s, Hawes began producing documentary films – first at Gaumont and then at Strand Film Company. But when World War II broke out, documentary production in Britain essentially halted and Hawes found himself out of work. Fortunately, he was offered a job overseas at the newly-established National Film Board of Canada. Here, Hawes was able to produce several documentaries, focusing mainly on the Canadian war effort. In 1946, Hawes moved to Sydney to work for the Australian National Film Board (later the Commonwealth Film Unit) as the organisation's first Producer-in-Chief. Over a quarter of a decade, Hawes built up a reputation as one of Australia's most respected and acclaimed documentarians. He retired in 1970, but remained active in the Australian film community until his death in 1991.