He was born 1913 in Peking, as the oldest son to Australian adventurer and journalist George Ernest Morrison (1862-1920) and Jennie Wark Robin (1889-1923).
In 1935, Morrison was appointed English lecturer at Hokkaido Imperial University in Sapporo, Japan, where he remained until 1938, when he became secretary to the British Ambassador in Tokyo, Sir Robert Craigie.