“ I was born in Lismore Base, went to Lismore Public, then Lismore High School so I’m very Lismore. I work now at Southern Cross University. I grew up in Music St. My parents were local and my father was a Lawyer. He passed away in 2006 and I lost my mum in 1997. After school I went to Brisbane and studied Law and after 10 years I came back here and worked with my Dad. I worked as Lawyer for about 16 years until I decided I wanted to do something different and I shifted across to Legal Academia which is more interesting. I got a job at the University of New England in Armidale and we moved there for 7 years.
I met Myeka when I was here in Lismore working with my Dad and she was a travel agent in Brisbane. That was 24 years ago now. We have 2 adults sons, Nicholas is studying Medicine and Henry is studying Engineering and Maths.
These days whilst I still think of myself as a Lawyer, I’m also a Legal Academic and a legal writer. I write about property and places, public spaces.
I’ve been involved with the Lismore Regional Gallery in one way or another since the 90’s, going back to when Irena Hatfield was the Director. I’ve been in the art trust on and off so It was so wonderful to see the new gallery come to fruition after years of hard work along with other community members. It’s been a focus of ours for years.
The Friends of the Gallery are a community group. We reformed it back in 2011 when we returned from Armidale. It’s meant to be this link between the gallery, the director and staff along with the community. Originally we started by doing things like bus trips to other galleries, social events, etc. We then realised there was no point in doing that when we were in the old gallery as we really needed the space so we’ve sort of morphed into being a lobbying organisation. We lobbied to Councillors and Politicians for funding for this building. We were a big part of the partnerships that made this all happen.
Part of what we are really excited with is the new quadrangle. We really sold it to some councillors as not just being about art but being a public space for gatherings, movies, music. The trees are growing. It’s a lovely space.
Having felt we’ve achieved this we wonder what’s next. Maybe it’s time for us to take a new leaf. Myeka and I wonder what community project we will get into next.
I love my work, I love writing. You can be in Lismore and write about the world. I love travel, New Zealand, Western USA and big long walks. It clears the head and walking is part of my creative practice as it’s great for thinking. I’ve published here in Australia, US, UK and New Zealand. I’ve written 2 books, lots of articles and presented at conferences.
Having grown up in Lismore and I’m a person who has a strong sense of place, one connects to a place when you have so many memories. It’s obviously something more because you could be born into a place that’s not very nice. I find it an interesting place to live. There’s always something happening in town. You see something amazing or you go to someones rooftop and see a band. We have beautiful food, always something great at the gallery and you never feel like you’re remote or regional. You feel like you’re connected. A lot of people at University for instance don’t understand Lismore. They all head toward the coast and they really miss out on so much.”