hackett, nicknamed "shan", was born in perth, western australia. his irish australian father, also named sir john winthrop hackett (1848–1916), originally from tipperary, was educated at trinity college, dublin (b.a., 1871; m.a., 1874), and he migrated to australia in 1875, eventually settling in western australia in 1882, where he became a newspaper proprietor and editor and a politician. his mother was deborah drake-brockman. her parents were prominent members of western australian society: grace bussell, famous for rescuing shipwreck survivors as a teenager and frederick slade drake-brockman, a prominent surveyor and explorer. deborah had three sisters and three brothers.