David grew up in Armidale NSW, on the New England Tableland, not far from the magical gorge country edging eastern Australia’s Great Dividing Range of mountains. He has worked in a variety of jobs including manual work: rabbit catcher, crane slings-man and railway sleeper-layer before attending University of Queensland as a mature-age student, then settling into a sedate career as a Queensland Government Auditor. David travelled extensively around Queensland, developing an affection for the people and places in the remote parts of the State, in particular the Torres Strait Islands. He has always been fascinated in the power of speech and has been a Toastmaster for over 20 years. However, only after his public service career (writing factual but stodgy reports) did his interest in storytelling expand. The first addition to his story-telling at Toastmasters was through theatre: acting and directing plays. More recently he has ventured into the written word His first anthology is based on Toastmasters speeches and now, his debut novel explores his own youth in the New England Tablelands country, including with what did, and what might have happened in those mysterious places.