Boris Pavlikovsky was born in Australia to a Ukrainian father and a Polish mother. Both of his parents were alcoholics. His mother died when he was young, falling out of a window while intoxicated. His father built mines for a living and had violent tendencies due to his alcoholism, severely psychically abusing Boris and once killing a man while living in New Guinea. Because of his father's occupation, the Pavlikovskys moved often. Before the age of fifteen, he had lived in Australia, Russia,