About Robert Maddison

Robert Maddison is my pen name. My real name is Bill Phillips. A little bit about me - I have a PhD in Zoology and I’m also a former senior executive in the Federal environment bureaucracy in Australia. Then for nearly three years, I was Deputy Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands based in Switzerland. 

After that posting I was a freelance consultant, working mostly across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Finally, I then set up and was CEO of the not-for-profit organisation, RiverSmart Australia for more than ten years. 

So, I’ve worked in environmental politics, and all its’ machinations, for most of my professional life. Now I’m using these real life experiences to help shape eco-thrillers: a sub-genre with a focus on corruption in the environmental arena. 

I’ve just completed a trilogy, starting with 'Flood Country', followed by ‘Trumped up Corella' and completed with ‘Cotton Trash’. While these are works of fiction, the story lines are inspired by real events; the names, places etc all completely fictitious. 

I was in born Lake Cargelligo in western NSW, spent nearly 30 years living in Canberra and then retired to write and live on a houseboat on the Murray River in Mildura until late 2024. I recently moved to live in the 'Land of Smiles', Thailand. I enjoy fiction writing. I see it as a way to entertain you the reader while also passing on some insights into the realities that go on behind the scenes in the sometimes ugly politics of the environment. I hope you enjoy my stories.