Hi, I’m Graeme Gibson, and here's a little about me.

My first job straight out of school in Adelaide, way back then, was in a bank. A short lived career followed by self-employment mowing lawns with a progression to landscaping which took me to studying horticulture. This led to training, mainly with unemployed people because governments have always believed unemployed people need to know how to plant trees and make gardens. This gradually moved into other areas of training and adult learning before post-graduate study.

I moved around a bit – Adelaide to Darwin, Cairns, Sydney, Brisbane before moving to Canberra to join my partner Meg Bishop in 1993.

From 1997 Meg and I had a small consultancy, working in community education and development. I’m a community developer by inclination rather than training. Our work was mainly in the community service, natural resource management and health promotion areas. We’ve done lots of interesting stuff including oral history and interpretation for parks and reserves. Over the years I’ve done a lot of group facilitation and training in areas such as adult learning and conflict management. I trained as a mediator and enjoy working with people to help them find their solutions to their concerns.

In 2001 Meg and I moved to Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast where we continued our work. We also became involved in a local campaign aiming to influence the local council's plans for the future of the area. This snow-balled, in the way these things sometimes do, into a campaign to sack the council. I then felt compelled to write about the experience and published 'Beyond Fear and Loathing: Local politics at work' in 2012.

Around this time we also built a house. The business imploded due to lack of attention. An attempt to reinvigorate it failed due to lack of enthusiasm. It was time to move on. I still work as a mediator and contribute to the community in a variety of ways, but writing and presenting writing workshops became a focus.

In 2016 we relocated to Kyogle in the northern rivers of NSW and I continue being involved in the local community along with writing and presenting workshops. In 2023 I have published 'In Life There is Luck: A memoir of an ordinary life,' and 'A Pocket Guide to Memoir Writing.'

My next project? A social and environmental history of a local river, The Richmond.

Publishing

I’ve published and helped others publish their work on a number of occasions. Some examples below.