The person in brief...
Born in 1955 in Tailem Bend, a rail and farming town in the Upper South-East of South Australia, I grew up on a semi-remote and very tiny farm. My father, Bill Shillitoe, was an itinerant worker, a Meningie Council employee, and a farmer. My mother, Eileen Shillitoe, was a stay-at-home housekeeper and former nurse. The farm we lived on was actually my grandfather's property, Henry Shillitoe, a retired boundary rider, so we lived with him up until his death in 1970. I am an only child, and there were no children my age living nearby. The closest town to the farm was Cooke Plains, about 24 kilometres away and that most likely accounts for my creativity.
I attended Coomandook Area School from 1961-1971 and my love for writing was inspired by my Grade Three teacher, Margaret Wakefield. In 1972, I completed Year 12 at what was Mitchell Park Boys Technical High School, and studied English, History, Philosophy and Education at Flinders University, graduating with BA(Hons), DipEd at the end of1977. I worked as a teacher at Stuart High School (1978-1984), Aberfoyle Park High School (1985-1994), Hallett Cove R-12 School (1995-1999), and Concordia College (2000-2022). I also had various part-time and casual lecturing and tutoring roles with the International Baccalaureate Organisation, Flinders University and the Adelaide Institute of TAFE, and a short time at Jerudong International School. |
Among my interests and activities have been, and in some cases still are: playing and coaching football, basketball and volleyball, playing guitar and singing, acting, speaking, drawing, role-play and online gaming.