Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

Neale Payne was born in Newcastle NSW, Australia in 1957. He attended two primary schools before the family moved to Sydney where he completed the rest of his schooling.  Neale has 2 brothers and a sister his father was in the merchant navy and often away for long periods of time and his mother maintained the family home.

Both Neale’s parents shared wonderful stories of their own childhood, filled with imaginative tales of people and places.  His father’s stories were centered around adventures in the bush along the coastline in NSW and featured many observations of the wildlife. Neale and his brothers were encouraged to enjoy similar adventures in the natural bush and the creek close to their family home.

Neale has had several career paths, which began when he entered the army as an apprentice in 1974. This took him away from home and set him on his way across Australia to Perth.  From here he returned to NSW married and had 2 sons.  He set up his own business on the harbour repairing marine engines on small boats.

He has always been an avid swimmer, surfer, and sailor.  In recent years he lives on a sailing boat in the pristine waters near Sydney, surrounded by natural bushland.  It is here that he finds his imagination flows and his stories grow. Neale draws upon many of his own experiences in his stories to captivate young readers of today.