В 1960 году окончил университет Аделаиды с отличием. С 1970 года работал над ботаническими исследованиями в Папуа — Новой Гвинее, позднее — на Australian National Wildlife Collection, где, в частности, участвовал в исследованиях, посвящённых созданию национального парка Какаду.
1975 — Interim list of Australian songbirds: Passerines. RAOU: Melbourne.
1980 — Nocturnal Birds of Australia. (With Ian J. Mason. Illustrations by Jeremy Boot). Lansdowne Editions: Melbourne. (Whitley Medal 1981).
1982 — The Fairy-Wrens. a Monograph of the Maluridae. (With illustrations by Richard Weatherly). Lansdowne Editions: Melbourne. ISBN 0-7018-1051-3. (Whitley Medal 1982).
1983 — A Review of Norfolk Island Birds: Past and Present. (With P. Fullagar and N. Hermes). ANPWS Special Publication No.8.
1997 — Zoological Catalogue of Australia: Aves (Columbidae to Coraciidae) v. 37. 2. (With Ian J. Mason). CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 0-643-06037-5
1998 — CSIRO List of Australian Vertebrates: A Reference with Conservation Status. (With M. Stanger, M Clayton, I. Mason and J. Wombey). CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 0-643-06256-4
1999 — The Directory of Australian Birds: Passerines. A taxonomic and zoogeographic atlas of the biodiversity of birds of Australia and its territories. (With Ian J. Mason). CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 0-643-06456-7
2006 — Proceedings of the 23rd International Ornithological Congress, Beijing, August 2002. (General editor). Acta Zoologica Sinica, Vol.52, Supplement. Science Press: Beijing.
2006 — The Encyclopedia of Birds. A Complete Visual Guide. (With Fred Cooke). Fog City Press. ISBN 1-74089-355-7