About Dave Goddard

I started life as a kid who was mad about sport, particularly cricket, Australian Rules, hockey and rugby. I played all of these to pretty high levels, being selected in state junior teams in the first three and going on to the Western Australian State Cricket Squad for several seasons. I became a physical education teacher, then primary school principal and then a District Director of Education for the Kimberley region, where much of my Aboriginal learning started.

Along the way I undertook a Ph.D, which was useful when I chose to leave the Education Department and become a consultant. My consultancy work has taken me to all Australian states and territories, but in particular, Western Australia where I live, the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia. Most of that work has been in the “between world”: between Aboriginal and Indigenous peoples and mining companies, or government agencies, or not-for-profit organisations.

I am married to Karen, a speech and drama teacher and we have two sons: Paul who is an actor and voice-over artist with numerous appearances on television and in films, and Drew, who is a guitarist with the ARIA winning Australian progressive rock group, Karnivool. I have said before that it has been the creative talent in my family that finally motivated me to write fiction: to avoid being left behind.