Travers was born at Rice's Creek at
Auburn, South Australia. He later moved to the
Pekina area with his family, where he was a farmer for many years. He was a
District Council of Orroroo councillor for the Pekina Ward from 1902 to 1905, and was appointed a justice of the peace in 1902. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Flinders at the
1905 election.[3][4]
He was elected to the House of Assembly for Flinders at the
1906 election as a Liberal, although he had earlier approached the United Labor Party about a possible endorsement.[5][6] He was defeated at the
1910 election. He won the seat back at the
1912 election and was re-elected at the
1915 election. He resigned from the
Liberal Union in December 1917 due to his opposition to conscription, and was defeated as an independent at the
1918 election. He was an advocate of the
Tod Reservoir project while in parliament.[3][7][5][8][9]
Having lived in
Kingswood,
Adelaide for a time, he moved to
Woods Point, near
Murray Bridge, around 1924, returning to being a grazier.[10] He died at the Soldiers' Memorial Hospital in Murray Bridge in August 1928 and was buried at the Murray Bridge Cemetery.[3][11]