Doug Limbrick

A graduate of the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. He worked for many years providing social policy advice to government and participated in a number of national enquiries and evaluations. For his pioneering work on data collection and evaluation he was awarded an Australia Day medal. He had a number of appointments to national and international bodies.

He has authored many papers, reports on poverty, disadvantage, housing, homelessness, international comparisons, etc. Long time interest in researching nineteenth century Australian colonial history, particularly nineteenth century emigration, the emigration vessels and colonial and imperial government policies and practices. Have applied expertise in social issue analysis to look at circumstances of people in the United Kingdom and the Australian colonies during the nineteenth century in order to better understand and tell their stories. He is a member of The Australian Association for Maritime History.

He has written six books exploring nineteenth century emigration processes, experiences and stories with an emphasis on the stories as told by emigrants. His latest book (Potato Famine Orphans) is the story of a group of teenage orphan girls who escaped almost certain death in Irish workhouses during the Irish famine and were assisted to emigrated to the Australian colonies.

Doug is also a keen runner and has been involved in running activities including club administration for many years. He has completed 25 marathons and some 60 half marathons and has also competed in many cross country and mountain running events for the past 30 years. His Guide to Running Your First Marathon draws directly on his personal experience. The book Running the Marathon with Cancer is a personal story that combines his passion for running with dealing with rectal cancer.

When not writing or running Doug is a very keen photographer and also an enthusiastic collector of vintage cameras.