I was born in 1948 in Ipswich, Queensland. My father served in the Australian Air Force during World War II and was also a Lay Preacher in the Presbyterian Church. My mother also served as an officer in The Women’s Royal Australian Air Force.
I have two sons, Damien who has an enquiring mind that is useful when I am considering all things military. My other son, Brendan is a publican in Tasmania which is quite remote from us. I miss him.
I went to school at Ipswich State High School and, after graduating, became a High School teacher teaching Art, History and English Literature. Once “safely married off”, I followed my husband, a Search and Rescue Searchmaster, to a number of locations throughout Australia.
During my travels, I studied with the University of Queensland as a remote student. The Arthurian legends have followed me for most of my life. From early childhood, when I was first introduced to the prose stories of Tennyson and later fell in love with his poetic skills, my imagination was “hooked” by the Arthurian personae. To supplement a number of other coincidences, I once lived in a suburb where the streets were named after the knights, whether by accident or happy design, I determined to study the literature of Arthur for my Masters and PhD degrees. Even my husband shares his first name (Arthur) with the Dux Bellorum (War Leader) of Britain, the hero who played such a large part in defending the Celtic tribes for some forty years.
For my PhD studies, I undertook a major study on Charles Williams, an English poet and novelist who wrote esoteric Arthurian literature during the period from 1920 to 1940. Although unknown to most of the wider literary establishment, Williams was a genius in his own right who wrote some of the most esoteric works produced in the 20th Century. His best-known works were his poetic triumphs, “Taliessin
Through Logres “and “The Region of the Summer Stars”. I loved his works, but he came across to me as a rather “weird” man.
I now live in Brisbane, Queensland, but escape to Europe and Britain for research as well as fun at every possible opportunity.
My writing is the culmination of my lifelong dream, it is very satisfying to see your own book in the bookstores and to read “favourable” reviews
