Michael Rayner Thwaites was an Australian academic, poet, and intelligence officer. Born on 30 May 1915 in Brisbane. He was educated at Geelong Grammar School, entering Trinity College at the University of Melbourne from which he graduated in 1937.

His poems reflect the experiences of an unusually varied life, including six years at sea in the Navy in World War II, lecturing in English at Melbourne University, direction of counter-espionage in ASIO in the Stalin era, and deputy head of the Parliamentary Library in Canberra. His best known poems include The Jervis Bay, The Prophetic Hour, and Message to My Grandson. His collected poems spanning 1932 to 2004 were published as Unfinished Journey which won the 2005 ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for poetry. He was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1940. He died on November 1,2005 at the age of 90.