I was born in Hobart, Tasmania to a Queensland mother descended from Kentish smugglers, and a Scottish father who left home at 19 and made Australia home.

I inherited their love of words and crossword puzzles, and the joy of solving examples from IQ tests. This otherwise useless skill led me to Canberra in 1965 as one of 50 new graduates recruited to train as programmers, and an interesting job as the first woman programmer at the Treasury. 

It also led to marriage, motherhood, and lifelong friendships with a group of idiosyncratic people who were also good at IQ tests.

Now, a lifetime later, my passion for solving puzzles has led to a collection of engraved coins and the stories they tell. TRENCH ART and the MASTERPIECE trilogy are the result.