Joan grew up in the country town of Benalla in Victoria, Australia. One of nine children, as a child she longed for alone time to indulge in her writing and drawing. She moved to the big smoke, Melbourne, when she was sixteen and began her working life as a graphic designer/draftsperson.
She has lived throughout Australia and spent time living and working in Papua New Guinea. The last 25 years she has been living and working in the beautiful remote town of Weipa in Far North, Queensland.
Joan began writing and sketching in her early teens. In the beginning her poetry was similar to a diary, it was her way of recording events, feelings and actions. This way she was able to analyse the subject, as it had been written down and therefore was out in the open and had a face.
Joan’s recent works the Grow With Joe Children’s Books series are inspired by her daughter’s life on an outback cattle station in Far North Queensland, Australia.
