Fenbury was born in Western Australia in 1916 and became a patrol officer in New Guinea in 1937. After wartime service followed by a period with the Government of Tanganyika, he returned to New Guinea in 1947 to become Assistant District Officer responsible for organising native local government councils. After holding several other senior posts, he went to New York as the Australian Government Nominee in the trusteeship division of the United Nations Secretariat. In 1972 he became Secretary of the Department of the Administrator. His last post before retiring from the Territory in 1962 was Secretary of the Department of Social Development and Home Affairs.

The papers are:

1. Correspondence, 1947-48
2. Native Local Government, 1950-59
3. Taxation, 1951-68
4. Land conversion and Native Economic Development, 1953-66
5. Taloi Cocoa Project, 1954-68
6. Administrative organisation, 1959-72
7. Dissemination of News and Information to the Indigenous Population, 1959
8. Notes on Durham Report, 1961
9. Electoral Matters, 1962
10. Urban Local Government, 1962-68
11. Mataungan Association, 1971
12. Correspondence with Dr J. Guise, 1972