Duncan Richards was born in Perth in 1934 and studied architecture at Perth Technical College. He has worked as both an architect and academic. From 1962 to 1994 he was a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Architecture at Perth Technical College, Western Australian Institute of Technology (W.A.I.T.) and Curtin University of Technology. In 1994 he was appointed as an Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Architecture and Fine Arts, The University of Western Australia, where he remained until his retirement in 1999. His teaching and research focussed on twentieth century Western Australian architecture and urban history.

Oline Richards (nee Hall) was born in Sydney in 1935 and studied architecture at Perth Technical College. Oline is a retired landscape architect and professional historian. She collaborated with Duncan in their practice, Duncan Richards and Oline Richards: Design Consultants, from the early 1960s to the mid-1980s before establishing a practice as a Heritage Consultant specialising in Western Australian designed landscapes.