Donald Manton Llewelyn was a paediatric surgeon at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney. He was born in Sydney on 11 December 1929, the sixth child and fourth son of Arthur Stuart Llewelyn, an insurance executive, and Loys Llewelyn née Bartrim, the daughter of a farmer. He was educated at Roseville

Michael was born in Waimate, to Ronald, surgeon, general practitioner and Superintendent of the Waimate Hospital, and Mary Armstrong, a talented amateur artist. Both parents played the violin and from an early age Michael learned the piano and singing. He had a younger sister, Janet who would go on