I was born in the Flathead region of Montana. My father alternated between being a forester and an Army officer through much of my childhood. He had multiple postings in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Washington. We finally settled in Oregon.
When I was thirteen, I started working summers on nearby farms. By sixteen, I was a qualified forestry technician and fought forest fires for three seasons. That paid for a year and a half of my tuition, room and board at Oregon State University before my funds dried up. I enlisted in the Navy and became an advanced electronics technician. During my seven years in the Navy I earned both an Associate and a Bachelor of Science degree. The latter was in Psychology. I also met and married my Australian wife.
After leaving the Navy, I worked for a time as a welfare, youth and community worker. As I was a Vietnam Era Veteran, the GI Bill took care of the tuition during my graduate school studies which I completed with Honors after three years. Arriving back in Melbourne with our family in the mid-1980s, I worked as a community, welfare and pastoral care worker before moving into the Public Health field. My area of research and activity was in Men's Health Promotion. I eventually took up a position lecturing at La Trobe University where I earned my Doctorate. My academic career was cut short by illness. I retired as an Adjunct Associate Professor in 2016 having been the Head of Department for Public Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences.