Courage Under Fire

Daniel Keighran VC was born in 1983 in Nambour, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. At age eleven, he moved with his family to Lowmead, living on a forty-acre property. Daniel joined the Australian Army in 2000. He deployed to Malaysia, East Timor, Iraq and twice to Afghanistan. He received the Victoria Cross for his actions in the battle of Derapet on 24 August 2010. He was presented the VC in November 2012 by the Governor-General of Australia, Dame Quentin Bryce. Daniel discharged from the regular army in 2011. He became a Council Member of the Australian War Memorial in 2016. Daniel now lives in Brisbane and works for Thales.

Tony Park

In the course of a wonderfully diverse career, Tony Park has worked as a journalist, press secretary, PR consultant and freelance writer. Such a variety of roles provided Tony with the ideal background for his current work as one of Australia’s leading fiction authors.

A 34-year stint in the Australian Army Reserve, in which he served as an infantryman, an air dispatcher, parachutist and, a public relations officer, including service in Afghanistan, has also shaped his writing.

Other than writing, Tony’s passion is travelling. He and his wife, Nicola, first visited Africa in 1995, on a trip which would change their lives forever. As seasoned travellers, the Australian tourists weren’t expecting to fall in love with this distant continent, but the unparalleled beauty of Africa - the stunning landscapes, vibrant wildlife and unforgettable people - struck a chord. They returned, annually, and since Tony’s first novel, Far Horizon, was released in 2004 they have spent six months of the year in Africa, and the remainder of their time on Sydney’s north shore. In 2012 they bought a house in a wildlife reserve in South Africa that now serves as the base for their travels.