Crawford was born in the Sydney suburb of
Doonside in what was in then the
Colony of New South Wales, the son of Robert Crawford senior, and was educated at
The King's School, Parramatta, and the
University of Sydney. Crawford is believed to have been the first prize-winning haiku poet published in Australia, in
The Bulletin on 12 August 1899. In 1904,
Lyric Moods:Various Verses, was published in Sydney. An enlarged edition was later published in Melbourne retitled simply
Lyric Moods (1909). == Poetry collections ==