I undertook an undergrad Arts degree, majoring in history, at Wollongong in the 1970s. In 2020 I received my MA through Southern Cross University and my PhD through Griffith University. History has always been my passion. I have been involved in Family History for over 46 years, obtaining my Diploma of Family History Studies in 2001 and undertaking professional research in that field. My post-grad degrees have both been grounded in Family History Methodology, including docography, context analysis and para-document analysis. This ensures that my analysis of social history is underpinned by analysis of the individual. My area of interest is early colonial history during the period 1788-1810.

My professional career was as an educator, working in high schools in the Nowra and Lismore regions, although I have also worked in private enterprise and the printing & publishing industry. I am now retired from paid employment, but relish the thought of on-going research into both early colonial social history and aspects relating to the lives of interesting colonists, especially women.