Graham Powning was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1949 and began to learn the flute at the age of eight. He soon transferred to the oboe, studying both oboe and composition at the New South Wales Conservatorium.

Since 1970, Graham Powning has combined playing, as Principal Oboe of the Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra, with teaching at the New South Wales Conservatorium. His services to music have been rewarded with the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Medal.

His compositions have featured mainly the woodwind instruments, and his own instrument, the oboe, in particular. He often gives his music comic titles and his output reflects his interests in unusual harmonies and rhythms, and in folk-song.