A native of Melbourne, Australia I worked in advertising for five years. At age twenty-four I left Australia and spent seven years in Papua New Guinea as a government patrol officer, radio journalist and filmmaker before coming to New York in late 1975 where I worked freelance in television, print and radio.
I produced award-winning investigative radio documentaries on a wide range of environmental and political issues for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and the Pacifica Foundation's WBAI-99.5FM Community Radio in New York City where I was program director for almost four years. I taught journalism, radio and “sound image” as an adjunct professor at New York University and other tertiary institutions for more than 10 years.
After working as a journalist for many years I ran out of words and "went bush" to reconsider my priorities.
In 1997 I launched Stone and Garden, a garden design and permaculture consulting service. My quest for natural stone led me to Hancock, NY, “the Bluestone Capital of the World” and in 2003 I relocated to the area to established the Hancock Permaculture Center. The Center actively promotes permaculture-based businesses and lifestyles through support of permaculture education and outreach. I studied permaculture with its founder Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton and Andrew Jones in New Orleans and Melbourne, Australia.
My areas of expertise and interest include: teaching and lecturing on permaculture and related issues Permaculture Design Solutions. Radio and broadcast journalism, production, sound design. Community radio.
PERMACULTURE
Teacher Permaculture Design Certificate Course, Hancock Permaculture Center (2006-present)
72-hour
certification course offered through the Hancock Permaculture Center,
Hancock, NY. We teach two courses per year - Spring and Fall - five
weekends over five months. Hancock Permaculture Center
On the Path to Sustainability: Problems and Prospects in our Bioregion with Albert Bates. Series of five all-day seminars in upper Catskills region hosted by Hancock Permaculture Center. (2006_
On the Path to Sustainability: Problems and Prospects in our Bioregion with Albert Bates. Series of five all-day seminars in upper Catskills region hosted by Hancock Permaculture Center. (2006_
“Urban Gardening and Permaculture” (2007)
Presented all day seminar in NYC with Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture.
“Post Petroleum Survival and Urban Permaculture Seminar” (2006)
“Post Petroleum Survival and Urban Permaculture Seminar” (2006)
All day seminar in NYC, presented with Albert Bates, author and permaculture instructor at The Farm community, Summertown, TN.
“Sustainable Landscaping” (2006)
Three-day course presented at SUNY Loch Sheldrake, Liberty N.Y.
“Climate Change, Peak Oil and the Permaculture Solutions” (2006)
Presented to Friends in Unity with Nature at the Peak Oil Meet-up, New York, NY.
“Implementing Efficient & Renewable Energy Systems in the Urban Environment” (2006)
Presented at Bronx Community College. Sponsored by New York Energy Smart,
NYSERDA, Public Service Commission, SOBRO, and the Center for Sustainable Energy.
“Peak Oil, Climate Change and Permaculture” (2005)
Presented at Bronx Community College. Sponsored by New York Energy Smart,
NYSERDA, Public Service Commission, SOBRO, and the Center for Sustainable Energy.
“Peak Oil, Climate Change and Permaculture” (2005)
Presented at Park Slope Methodist Church, Brooklyn, NY
“Permaculture Design Certificate Course” (2005)
Convened
with teachers Geoff Lawton and Andrew Jones at Green Phoenix
Permaculture, Epworth Methodist Camp, High Falls, NY and Ithaca
Eco-village reinvigorating the permaculture movement in the north-east
U.S. Interim General Manager KPFA (2011-2013) The first community radio station in the world and headquarters of Pacifca Foundation.
Program Director (1989-1993). Oversaw programming for this listener-supported community radio station in New York City.
Executive Producer (1988). “Listener's Action on Housing and Homelessness,” a three-month campaign to investigate homelessness, based on an idea from Paul Gorman. CPB and NFCB winner.
Morning Talk Host (1986). Hosted three-hour morning show once a week.
Co-creator & co-host (1986). “Contragate/Undercurrents,” a 30-min. 5-day-a-week investigative news and information program., which aired for five years.
Instructor (1986). Advanced Documentary Workshop, an 8-week in-house course.
Producer/Host (1984-1989). Investigations, a 90-min. weekly program in search of the art in radio. Conceived and produced Soundscapes: Explorations in Radio Sound and Music, a two-hour weekly program showcasing the work of a variety of artists and producers.
INDEPENDENT FILM & RADIO PRODUCER
Independent Radio Documentary/Features Producer 1980-1995
(see Radiography below)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation 1976-1994
Australian Broadcasting Corporation 1976-1994
Freelance sound recordist/producer and cine cameraman for film and TV news and public affairs
documentaries. Produced numerous radio documentaries. Traveled and worked on location in USSR, Europe, Cuba, Central America, Mexico, Estonia, Israel, Egypt, Canada and throughout the U.S.
Independent Film Producer, Papua New Guinea, Australia 1972-1975
documentaries. Produced numerous radio documentaries. Traveled and worked on location in USSR, Europe, Cuba, Central America, Mexico, Estonia, Israel, Egypt, Canada and throughout the U.S.
Independent Film Producer, Papua New Guinea, Australia 1972-1975
Produced and directed institutional documentary projects for government and corporate clients.
(See Filmography below.)
National Broadcasting Commission, Papua New Guinea 1970-1973
Executive Officer, Broadcasting. Department of Information and Extension Service, Port Moresby. Radio Station Manager. Radio Goroka in Papua New Guinea Highlands. Supervised a staff of 19; oversaw administration and training. Assistant Manager/Journalist. Radio Rabaul and Radio Bougainville including on-location ethnographic sound recording. (See Filmography below.)
National Broadcasting Commission, Papua New Guinea 1970-1973
RADIO DOCUMENTARIES AND FEATURES
The Biology of Information (1996-1997)
A six-part radio series exploring the physical and psychological nature of sound. Produced with the Museum of Sound Recording, Brooklyn N.Y.
The Forty Thousand Year Plague (1994)
Based on an American Museum of Natural History conference, “The Living Planet in Crisis: Biodiversity, Science and Policy.” Commissioned for Radio Eye, Australian Broadcasting Corp. (29 mins)
The Assassination of JFK: A Formal Debate (1993) Producer/Director. Peter Dale Scott and Gerald Posner debate in the studios of WNYC. (90 mins).
The Men Who Built the Bomb (1993)
A meditation on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki presented at the 1993 at Prix Futura, International
Radio Features Conference, Berlin. Featured the voices of Edward R. Murrow, Robert Jungkt, Comdr. Paul Tibbets, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the bomber crews, sound gathered on location at the Bradbury
Science Museum, Los Alamos. (90 mins)
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns (1993)
Radio Features Conference, Berlin. Featured the voices of Edward R. Murrow, Robert Jungkt, Comdr. Paul Tibbets, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the bomber crews, sound gathered on location at the Bradbury
Science Museum, Los Alamos. (90 mins)
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns (1993)
A 90-minute interview with Robert Jungk based on his groundbreaking book, Brighter Than A Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists. (90 mins)
Wilfred Burchett: A Man at the Edge of History (1993)
Wilfred Burchett: A Man at the Edge of History (1993)
Audio profile of the first Western journalist to enter Hiroshima after the atomic bombing. (59 mins)
Studs Terkel: America and World War Two (1993)
Pulitzer Prize-winning author reflects on America and the world at the time of the bombing. (59 mins)
Chaplain William Downey: An Oral History (1993)
Chaplain William Downey: An Oral History (1993)
Interview with Lutheran minister who served the 509th bomber group and said the prayers before the aircraft left for Japan. (59 mins)
Comdr. Paul Tibbets: An Oral History (1993)
Comdr. Charles Sweeney: An Oral History (1993)
Comdr. Paul Tibbets: An Oral History (1993)
Official USAF oral history interview conducted with Tibbets who led the 509th bomber group that bombed Hiroshima. (59 mins)
Comdr. Charles Sweeney: An Oral History (1993)
Accompanied Paul Tibbets over Hiroshima and commandeered "Bock's Car" which bombed Nagasaki. (59 mins)
Philip Morrison: An Oral History (1993)
Scientist who designed the core for Nagasaki bomb and returned to Japan after the war to survey damage. (59 mins)
Columbus (1992)
Producer/Director. A Radio Composition in Four Movements on the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America. Produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp. (120 mins)The Assassination of JFK: The Garrison Interview (1992)
Director and Co-producer with David Mendelsohn. Distributed on National Public Radio and
Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (120 mins)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (120 mins)
Poetry, prose and on-location sound recordings in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp. Drama and Features Department, Radio Helicon. ABC entry to the International Radio Festival, New York. ( 3 part series - 180 min)
Housing Now: The Journey Home (1989)
A documentary of the New Exodus March of the homeless from New York to Washington D.C. Winner of Corporation for Public Broadcasting Award in Public Affairs, and a National Association of Community Broadcasters Golden Reel Award. (59 mins)
Haiti, The Coup, CIA & Drugs (1989) Co-producer, editor, engineer. Produced on the eve of President Bertrand Aristide’s planned return to Haiti. With Dennis Bernstein. (59 mins)
The Aesthetics of Oliver North (1989)
A series of radio documentaries that looked at the “American culture of deceit.” With Dennis Bernstein. (150 mins)
Ellis Island Oral History Project (1988)
Conducted 30 on-location oral histories for the Ellis Island Museum throughout the U.S. Commissioned by National Parks Dept.
Oliver North, Drugs and the Senate (1988)
Co-producer, editor and engineer. Features an interview with former Drug Enforcement Agent, Celerino
Castillo III. With Dennnis Bernstein. (30 mins)
Castillo III. With Dennnis Bernstein. (30 mins)
Pardon Me! The Crimes of George Bush (1988)
Executive Producer. An oral history of Iran-Contra, broadcast nationally over Pacifica. With Dennis Bernstein.
The Collapse of Banking (1988)
Co-producer with Dennis Bernstein. Investigation of the savings and loan scandal. (180 min)
Tibet: An Odyssey in Sound (1987)
Co-producer with Jane Heaven. Synthesizing on-location music for The Listening Room, Australian Broadcasting Corp. Recorded by ethno-musicologist Peter Gold. (59 mins)
The Spirit of Sanctuary (1987)
The Spirit of Sanctuary (1987)
Produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp. Based on “Sanctuary: The American Church against the State,” a documentary slide presentation of the flight and plight of Guatemalan refugees encamped in Chiapas, Mexico. (45 mins)
The Unheeded Message of the Holocaust (1986)
Originally produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp and distributed to NPR stations. Features interview with Polish underground courier, Professor Jan Karski who informed the Allies, including FDR, of the Holocaust. (59 mins)
The U.N. At Forty (1986)
For Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Features interviews with Professors Archie Singham and Richard Falk. (59 mins)
The End of Nature (1985)
An aural exploration of Bill McKibbon's book on the implications of the greenhouse effect. Produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp. (29 mins)
Violent Peace (1985)
Produced for Australian Broadcasting Commission. Background briefing on Central America’s political, economic and psychological warfare as an extension of the Reagan Doctrine. (45 mins)
Hiroshima Countdown (1985)
A five-part series on the birth of the atomic age produced with the Center for Defense Information and broadcast nationally on 100 NPR stations in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Features original interviews and archives with commentary by Studs Terkel. (59 mins)
Hear segment here: Hiroshima Countdown.
Sandino's Children: Nicaragua a Country at War (1985)
Hiroshima Countdown (1985)
A five-part series on the birth of the atomic age produced with the Center for Defense Information and broadcast nationally on 100 NPR stations in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Features original interviews and archives with commentary by Studs Terkel. (59 mins)
Hear segment here: Hiroshima Countdown.
Sandino's Children: Nicaragua a Country at War (1985)
Produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp. Background briefing. A vivid picture of life and death in revolutionary Nicaragua in 1984. Featuring Abbie Hoffman and 60 fellow travelers. (45 mins)
Nicaragua and the Press (1985)
Nicaragua and the Press (1985)
Recorded on location in Managua with a panel of American reporters and Abbie Hoffman. (30 mins)
Whose in Command and Control? (1985)
Whose in Command and Control? (1985)
For Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Background briefing featuring an interview with New Yorker writer Daniel Ford on subterfuge and incompetence at NORAD. (45 mins)
Fallout On Trial: Isaac's Story (1984)
Originally produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp. Interview with Isaac Nelson whose wife, Olita, died of radiation fallout over Utah. (59 mins)
Fallout on Trial (1983)
Fallout On Trial: Isaac's Story (1984)
Originally produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp. Interview with Isaac Nelson whose wife, Olita, died of radiation fallout over Utah. (59 mins)
Fallout on Trial (1983)
For Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Background briefing on fallout from 1950s nuclear weapons testing in the U.S. Winner of the Gold Commendation Media Peace Prize, United Nations Association of Australia 1983. (45 mins)
Agent Orange: Background to a Royal Commission (1983)
Agent Orange: Background to a Royal Commission (1983)
Produced for Australian Broadcasting Corporation. A report from U.S., Vietnamese and
and Australian scientists, doctors, politicians, lawyers and veterans on the use
of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War. (59 mins)
Confronting the Nuclear Arms Race (1983)
Producer, director and host. An eight-hour live broadcast from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. Bernard Feld.
October Surprise (1982)
Produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp. An investigation of allegations that U.S. hostages in Iran were held longer than necessary due to illegal negotiations undertaken by Republican officials working for election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. (45 mins).
and Australian scientists, doctors, politicians, lawyers and veterans on the use
of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War. (59 mins)
Confronting the Nuclear Arms Race (1983)
Producer, director and host. An eight-hour live broadcast from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. Bernard Feld.
October Surprise (1982)
Produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp. An investigation of allegations that U.S. hostages in Iran were held longer than necessary due to illegal negotiations undertaken by Republican officials working for election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. (45 mins).
Nuclear Power in America (1982)
Produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp. An examination of the nuclear power industry in the U.S. three years after the nuclear power plant accident at Mile Island. (45 mins)
Biological and Chemical Warfare (1982)
Biological and Chemical Warfare (1982)
Produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp. A two-part examination of German and Japanese biological and chemical warfare experiments, and U.S. allegations that the Soviet Union used chemical weapons in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan.
Emile De Antonio: Profile of a Radical Filmmaker (1982)
Emile De Antonio: Profile of a Radical Filmmaker (1982)
Produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp. Features De Antonio’s radical vision of Richard Nixon, Joe McCarthy, Vietnam, and the peace activists. (59 mins)
March on Harrisburg (1982)
Documentary two years after Three Mile Island. Recorded on location as 10,000 people march with American trade unions. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The America's Cup (1980)
The America's Cup (1980)
Produced for the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Recorded on location in Newport, Rhode Island.
(59 mins)
Victor Marchetti and the Cult of Intelligence (1980)
Interview for Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Victor Marchetti and the Cult of Intelligence (1980)
Interview for Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
AWARDS
Columbus (1992)
Special Achievement Award: National Association of Community Broadcasters Golden
Reel.
Special Achievement Award: National Association of Community Broadcasters Golden
Reel.
Housing Now: The Journey Home (1989)
Best Public Affairs Special, Corporation for Public Broadcasting National Association of Community Broadcasters Golden Reel Award.
Best Public Affairs Special, Corporation for Public Broadcasting National Association of Community Broadcasters Golden Reel Award.
Fallout on Trial (1983)
Gold Commendation Media Peace Prize, United Nations Association of Australia.
Gold Commendation Media Peace Prize, United Nations Association of Australia.
Nation Emerging (Documentary film,1975)
Shell Award for Best Independently Produced Documentary Film in Australia and Papua New Guinea, Television Society of Australia.
Shell Award for Best Independently Produced Documentary Film in Australia and Papua New Guinea, Television Society of Australia.
TEACHING
New York University Tisch School of the Arts - 1990-2000
Adjunct Professor, Department Film and Television: Sound Image, Audio Craft, Intermediate Audio, Documentary and Radio Feature Production.
Brooklyn Public Library - 1996
Media Literacy Workshop design and implementation, including interview and oral history skills.
Marymount Manhattan College - 1986
Adjunct Professor, Communications Arts Department: Electronic News Writing, and Journalism in the Information Age.
New York Institute of Technology - 1985
Adjunct Professor: Introduction to Radio and New Media, and Fine Arts & Communications Arts.
Hunter College - 1985
Adjunct Professor, Communications Department: Radio Documentary.
New York University School of Journalism - 1984
New York University School of Journalism - 1984
Adjunct Professor: Radio Reporting and Production; Radio News Writing.
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia) - 1983
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia) - 1983
Visiting Lecturer, Communications and Journalism Department.
The Story of the Papua New Guinea Investment Corporation (24 min)
Writer, producer, director. Client: Papua New Guinea Investment Corporation.
Writer, producer, director. Client: Papua New Guinea Investment Corporation.
Living in a Town (15 mins)
Co-producer, second camera. Client: Papua New Guinea Department of Information and Extension Services.
Women in Papua New Guinea (30 mins)
Women in Papua New Guinea (30 mins)
Writer, producer, sound, director. Client: Papua New Guinea Dept. of Information and Extension
Services.
Hiri Moale Mai - Canoe Racing in Papua New Guinea. (10 mins).
Services.
Hiri Moale Mai - Canoe Racing in Papua New Guinea. (10 mins).
Client: W.D. & H.O. Wills.
Pacific League Cup (30 mins)
Pacific League Cup (30 mins)
Writer, producer, director, second camera. Client: South Pacific Brewery
Nation Emerging (42 mins)
Nation Emerging (42 mins)
Writer, producer, director, second camera. Client: Papua New Guinea Independence Day Celebrations Committee. Winner: Shell Award for Best Independently Produced Documentary Film in Australia and Papua New Guinea, 1975 by the Television Society of Australia.
Linking the Nation (30 mins)
Writer, producer,director, second camera. Client: Papua New Guinea Department of TransportationLinking the Nation (30 mins)
The Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation (10 mins)
Writer, producer, director, sound editor. Client: Papua New Guinea Banking Corp.
ends
.