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Later he moved to Melbourne and Canberra where he worked in the Parliamentary Press Gallery for The Age and then as Press Secretary to Sir John McEwen during his Prime Ministership. On McEwen’s retirement in 1971 he took a post with the Asian Development Bank in Manila, Philippines and for the next five years wrote and directed documentary films in 32 countries from Afghanistan to Western Samoa. These were screened on television in Australia, Britain, America and many developing countries of the region. During this time he wrote his first novel, The Queenslander, and returned with his family to Australia. He now lives in Canberra where he divides his writing time between books and moving pictures. Books Robert has written fourteen books including three other novels The Paper Castle (1978), Juryman (1981) and Fire in the Blood (2005). His major non-fiction works include The Secret Life of Jesus (1990), War Babies – a memoir (2005), Jacka VC – Australian Hero (2006), and Kevin Rudd: The Biography (2008). With his frequent co-author Peter Thompson he has written The Battle of Brisbane (2000), Morrison of China (2002), and The Big Fella – the rise and rise of BHP Billiton (2009). Film Robert is a graduate of the screenwriting faculty of the Australian Film Television and Radio School. In 1994, Juryman was made into a major Hollywood film, Storyville (MGM) starring James Spader and Jason Robards. His
screenplays include:
2003: Origin;
2004: The Irish Rose; 2005:MORRISON
OF CHINA; 2007: Barefoot
Television 2004: Pilot of six-part series, Bushranger Country filmed on location and screened at the National Museum of Australia. 2009: The Trial of William Shakespeare: The Bard and his contemporaries are ‘retrieved’ from the past to reveal who really wrote the plays and sonnets. 2010: The Silver Queens, the true story of two penniless maids suddenly overwhelmed with unlimited riches. One rises, one falls. Journalism Robert writes a regular column for CityNews as ‘The Gadfly’ Current Projects: Terminal Ballistics, the story of the top sniper in Australia’s SAS, to be published by Hachette. My Favourite Teacher, some of Australia’s most gifted and successful men and women tell of the teacher who changed their lives.
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