John Hamilton was born in England and migrated to Western Australia with his family when he was eight years old. After serving in the Royal Australian Navy he became a newspaperman, establishing himself in Melbourne. From there he has worked as a reporter and foreign correspondent for more than 30 years.

John Hamilton has won Australia's top award for journalism, the Walkley, two years in succession as well as the National Press Club Canadian Award of Journalistic Merit for his international reporting.

He has also been nominated twice for the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award, for which he received a High Commendation. John Hamilton is an Australia Day Ambassador and is married with two sons.