Simon was born in Adelaide, South Australia. He spent 14 years living and writing in Britain, mostly in London, though he lived for six years in Devon and travelled extensively throughout Britain, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. In London, he immersed himself in volunteer work for The Royal Parks, The Gallipoli Association, London Legacy and Historic Royal Palaces. He was one of the original developers and leaders of the award-winning Garden History Tours at Kensington Palace, and has helped research and led several walks at Hampton Court Palace. He has also led walks for The Royal Parks in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and St James's Park.
Simon has written articles for The Australian Times, Wild magazine, The National Library of Australia News, The Royal Geographic Society of South Australia,The Trailwalker, The Tasmanian Historical Research Association, Tasmania: Forty Degrees South, The Tasmanian Tramp, Wartime (the journal of the Australian War Memorial) and London Legacy Newsletter.
His first book, Jack Thwaites: Tasmanian Bushwalker and Conservationist is a detailed biography of perhaps Tasmania's most famous and best-loved bushwalker. The book was published by Forty Degrees South in 2008 and was short listed for the Tasmanian Book Prize.
A second book, Rambles in Western Tasmania is a collection of newspaper articles written in the early years of the 20th Century by Charles Whitham. The book was edited by Simon and published by the Tasmanian Historical Research Association in 2010.
His third book, Frenchmans Cap—Story of a Mountain was published in 2012 by Interactive Publications in hardback, paperback and kindle editions. The book has sold steadily over the years in all formats and remains the definitive reference work on Frenchmans Cap. The book has been used and recommended as a reference source by the Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife Service,
In 2016 he began fully updating and revising Frenchmans Cap, a long process which he completed in 2021. A limited and numbered edition of the revised book will be distributed to libraries and a handful of individuals, under the title Frenchmans Cap—story of an iconic Tasmanian mountain. A commercially available edition of the revised book is expected to be released sometime later.
No comments:
Post a Comment