 His parents died when he was young, and he went to sea at 13 after persuading his guardian and was in the merchant service for 12 years.Leaving with a first mate's certificate, Barry came to Australia in the 1870s, and after working in Queensland at the gold diggings, spent some years as a drover, boundary rider and station manager.He returned to shipboard life around 1877 along the east coast of Australia for about two years.