Career
Julian has worked professionally as a journalist, print magazine editor, website editor, teacher, photographer and trainer.
He started his working life in the early 1980s as a freelance contributor to Australian photography magazines.
During this period he completed Diploma in Teaching and Bachelor of Education qualifications (majoring in Geography and Sociology) and taught photography to adult classes.
Julian then became a full-time secondary school teacher, working at South Australian schools for the next eight years as a teacher of Geography and Natural Resources Management, mostly with Year 11 and 12 students.
Becoming interested in cars, in the early 1990s he began selling freelance features to car magazines. His material appeared in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
He then turned from teaching to full-time freelancing, writing extensively in the fields of automotive engineering and electronics.
In 1996 he became the founding editor of an Australian national print magazine, before in 1998 becoming founding editor of a major technical website that he edited for a decade.
Moving to Queensland, in 2004 he completed a Graduate Diploma in Journalism.
Julian has authored one technical book and co-authored another. Both were successful publications.
In 2006 and 2007 he completed two contracts as a Tender Response Editor for Australian Aerospace in Brisbane, working on major Federal Government defence tenders.
In 2009 he worked as an EL1 Web Editor for the Australian Public Service in Canberra.
He now lives near Canberra, teaching business writing and reading skills, primarily to Australian Federal Government departments.
Recent clients include:
- Department of Immigration and Citizenship (Canberra & Adelaide)
- Department of Defence (Canberra & Brisbane)
- Department of Parliamentary Services (Canberra)
- Australian Public Service Commission (Canberra)
- National Archives of Australia (Canberra & Sydney)
- Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne)
- Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Sydney)
- Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (Canberra)
- Australian Crime Commission (Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne & Adelaide)
- Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (Canberra)
- IP Australia (Canberra)
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (Canberra)
- Indigenous Land Corporation (Adelaide)
In addition, Julian currently contributes to five print and on-line magazines – the topics including electronics, cycling, renewable energy, model trains and automotives.
Personal Interests
Julian enjoys reading. He collects Leslie Charteris ‘Saint’ novels (primarily from the 1930s) and reads a variety of fiction. He has an extensive non-fiction library, especially in engineering, automotive and aviation areas. He has a historical interest in Nazi Germany.
Julian started experimenting with solar energy while still at school and has maintained the interest all his life, most recently constructing a solar cat kennel. He has a strong interest in hybrid petrol/electric cars, owning a Honda Insight and in the past turbocharging a Toyota Prius.
In the last five years he has developed a passion for cycling, constructing his own recumbent fully-suspended trikes, and touring on his trikes as well as Brompton and Birdy folding cycles.
His home workshop contains a wide variety of machines and tools including a lathe, vertical mill and oxy-acetylene welding gear. He also enjoys hobby electronics and integrates this with automotive and cycling pursuits.
Family
Julian is married to Georgina, an early childhood teacher, and they have a 7 year old son, Alexander. Also in the family are Ar-Chee the cat and Victor the sheep.
Julian, Georgina and Alexander enjoy building things in the home workshop (a trebuchet being a recent accomplishment), cycling and camping.
They live in a hamlet just north of Canberra.
