Ernest Alexander Lyall (Ernie) was born in 1931 and grew up in Launceston and Hobart, Tasmania. In 1950 he became the first young Tasmanian man to be awarded the ANU Gowrie Scholarship.

After moving to Canberra to take up the scholarship, he studied part-time at the Canberra University College and the ANU for a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Economics degree, while also working as a public servant with the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, then the customs department.

In 1961 he won the Royal Institute of Public Administration Prize at the ANU after achieving the top honours result, and later, he also achieved one of the most distinguished political science masters qualifying results. In 1965 he joined the staff of the ANU Department of Political Science as a lecturer, later gaining his master’s degree studying public administration with a thesis on political patronage in Australia.

From 1967 to 1972, Ernie contributed five papers to the Australian Journal of Public Administration, as well as many book reviews for The Canberra Times. He was a member of the IPAA ACT Council for a number of years, until his death in 1972.