I grew up on Birpai land on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales, and currently reside on Bidjigal land in South-West Sydney.
The written word and oral storytelling was an important part of my upbringing. I grew up in a sprawling family, filled with a colourful cast of characters, carrying carefully woven stories of Scotland, Egypt, Greece, England, Germany and Ireland; stories of exile and adventure, of islands and mountains, the desert and the sea; stories of language and how it can be lost. My family inspired and indulged my love of history with recollections, with old songs, poems and photographs.
I hold a BA in Ancient and Modern History, and an MA in Museum and Heritage Studies. My masters’ dissertation examined ideas of living history, the romanticisation of heritage, heritage interpretation and tourism, and national memory and identity in Australia – which grew my interest in the concept of storytelling itself: the stories we inherit, the stories we tell others and the stories we tell ourselves.