John was born at Outtrim Victoria in 1902 and was the eldest son of John and Mary Youl. Between 1917 and 1919 he completed the course at the School of Forestry Creswick for the Associate Diploma of Forestry. Between 1920 and 1934 he gained extensive field experience as an Assistant Forester in a wide range of locations. He was District Forester at Omeo, Orbost, Bright and Erica. After two years as Superintendent of the State Seasoning Works, he was appointed the first Forests Commission Sales and Marketing Officer, a position he held to 1944. Some highlights were the problems of salvage of timber killed by the 1939 fires and the production of 500 000 tons of firewood per annum for wartime Melbourne.

From 1944 to 1967 he was Manager of the Victorian Sawmillers Association and was involved on committees dealing with problems of standards, nomenclature and methods of royalty determination. Since 1969 John has been an active consultant specialising in the utilisation of sawmill residues and Land Conservation Council matters. He has been awarded the OBE.