I am a writer from my schooldays and would often scribble poetry or stories onto paper if a lecture bored me. Over time I built a collection of poetry up and during times of unemployment would employ my time writing childrens' stories.When I met my wife Jane she too was a writer and so the creative passion for writing grew. She encouraged me to join Helium. I am also a photographer and designer.We live in a beautiful part of Australia near the southern coast but prior to this travelled to many parts of Australia for five years in our campervan.

I have worked in Papua-New Guinea in 1963, as a teacher of grade 5 students. This took place on the north coast of Papua at Wedua village,Dogura. Beautiful setting and I was only nineteen teaching some students only three years younger than myself. In 1964, I worked as an education officer in the Highlands for the government instructing villagers who lived at 12,000 above sea level on how to place a voting paper into a ballot box. One of the men rolled his tobacco in it and smoked it!

After this I taught at Melbourne Grammar school for ten years, again in grade 5, and Carey Grammar school for another six in primary and junior secondary. In both these schools I was involved in sporting coaching, outdoor camping education and school magazine production.

I then moved into the disability field and taught in a private school for blind students and worked here for four years involved in work skills and community based training for eventual assimilation into the outside world. My work in this field saw me as a gardening instructor at the blind school and also for four years on a working farm for autistic adults. Freelance programming at a large government institution for severely handicapped adults was next and then the same sort of work within communities at weekends for recreation.

Taxi driving for four years gained me my degree in life and then it was back to teaching as deputy headmaster of a small newly formed primary school on the fringes of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, Southern Africa. Returning to Australia I then set about designing activity programs in nursing homes based around gardening. And now I am retired and enjoying writing for Helium.

My passion is ...

life and interacting positively with all it's aspects.Creativity.

I know too much about ...

nothing, my brain would burst.Wide lugs short tongue best.

My parents always told me ...

to be happy and work before playing.Respect your elders.

My childhood ambition ...

to be a move star like Tarzan;to have muscles, I was skinny.

My favorite memory ...

My three children coming into the world and marrying Jane.

Why I write ...

I love expressing what's inside my head. Iam good at it.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

U.F.O.'S in Africa by Cynthia Hind. (friend of my wife).Football.

My first job ...

Working in a beautiful coastal village in New Guinea, teaching.

My best moment ...

Finding a great house to write in.Meeting Jane, as me Tarzan.

My inspiration ...

The sky, the earth, nature, my brain and the cool way it works...

Travel > Australia & South Pacific Travel guide: Parachilna, Outback South Australia

1 of 1

Parachilna is a must for anyone who wants to say they have visited the outback fringes of South Australia. It is a tiny settlement on the way to Leigh Creek, which is in the middle of the South Australian outback and near the Oodnadatta Track, which begins ar Marree. You really are travelling into the harsh outback of South Australia. To go beyond Parachilna you should always, always go well prepared with water, petrol and supplies, as some have not and have never returned. Check at Coober Pedy with the local information centre before venturing onto the Oodnadatta Track. Parachilna is no...

More..

Writing:

Rating:

• Creative Writing Silver
• Marketplace Approved Writer
• Marketplace Premier Writer

Donated to charity: $39.60