In 1957 Murnane briefly trained to be a Catholic priest, but instead became a teacher.
A popular Australian writer, Murnane is getting more renowned throughout the world. His first two books,
Tamarisk Row (1974) and A Lifetime on Clouds (1976) are semi-autobiographical accounts on his childhood and adolescence. The Plains, (1982) is one of his more popular novels and is noted by critics as attaining a more mature style.
Tamarisk Row and his 2017 autobiographical novel Border Districts have both been released in the UK by And Other Stories.