Ernest Alfred Nicholls was born in London c1890, to parents Maria (nee Maslin) and Alfred Edward Nicholls. During his youth, Nicholls was a member of the juvenile theatre troupe “Carrie Laurie’s Juveniles”, performing on London piers. Nicholls emigrated to Australia some time before the First World War, and worked as a picture operator in Melbourne. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 28 July 1916, and was assigned to the 8th Infantry Battalion, with the rank of private. He embarked from Melbourne on 11 September 1916 on HMAT Euripides. After some months training in England, Nicholls joined his battalion in Etaples in December 1916. Nicholls was sent to the 1st London General Hospital in March 1917 with tonsillitis.

After his discharge from hospital, Nicholls was transferred to the Perham Downs training camp, in Sutton Veny, Wiltshire. Whilst at Perham Downs, Nicholls, who was a baritone, formed the the No 1 Command Depot Concert Party the ‘Perham Stars’, in late 1917. He also acted as the party’s business manager. The ‘Perham Stars’, who later became ‘The Aussies’, performed a number of concerts at Perham Downs, and toured camps and hospitals throughout England. Nicholls wrote a number of songs for the concert party, including “The Laughing Song”, and “The Kit Inspection Hymn”, which he co-wrote with 2030 Staff Sergeant George William Waite.

He returned to Australia in the 1920s, and in 1939, he married Elizabeth Mary Alice Rook in Sydney. During the Second World War, Nicholls conducted Sydney Y.W.C.A. Open House community singing for the troops. After the war he was an acting member of the Gilbert and Sullivan society, Sydney Musical Society and a number of drama groups, including ‘The Thespians’. He was also an active member of the RSL community. He compiled the “Historical data surrounding the foundation and progress of the Woonona Bulli R. S. L. Sub-Branch : compiled for the Golden Jubilee, 1919-1969.”, which was published in 1964, and again in 1969.

Ernest Alfred Nicholls died at Milton, New South Wales on 13 May 1967.