Ken Buckley was born in Hackney, London in 1922. He went to school in Kent, and was studying economics when co-opted into British intelligence during World War II. After the war he graduated with first-class honours in economics from Queen Mary College, University of London. He became Lecturer at Aberdeen University and was appointed to the University of Sydney in 1953 where he worked as an academic until retiring in 1988.
At Sydney University he joined with economics colleague Ted Wheelwright in founding the university staff association which has become the National Tertiary Education Union. In September 1963 Buckley was co-founder NSW Council for Civil Liberties and in 1976 Inaugural President, Australian Council for Civil Liberties. From 1981-86 he worked on the history of Burns Philp & Co Ltd. He was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2000. Ken Buckley died on 16 July 2006.