Christopher Holcroft

Life and work

Lieutenant Colonel Christopher J. Holcroft RFD, BA Comm, MA Comm (Org-Comm), JP, was born in Cooma, New South Wales during Australia's largest ever building project, the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. He was born to Allan and Shirley Holcroft along with his brothers Mark and Peter and his sisters Liane and Nerida.

Holcroft started school at St Joseph's Primary School from classes Kindergarten to Year Three. He then moved to De La Salle College, Kingsgrove for Years Four to Seven. De La Salle closed its doors as a boys school in 1999 and later re-opened as the girls only school St Ursula's College. Holcroft transferred to Peakhurst High School in Sydney's south in 1965 in Year Seven and graduated from Year 12 in 1970. The school is now part of the Georges River College. He started work two weeks later at Sydney's The Sun newspaper as a copyboy. Within a year he began his formal cadetship as a Journalist and completed his training in 1974 when he became graded. Christopher worked for and contributed to a series of newspaper mastheads for more than 20 years including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph, The Australian and a string of suburban papers, lastly, editing The District Reporter in Camden, New South Wales.

He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications, majoring in Journalism and Communication Technology at the University of Technology, Sydney, later completing his Master's degree in Communications (Organisational Communication) at Charles Sturt University. Holcroft followed his grandfather, New Zealand author M.H.Holcroft, into a career in journalism and writing. He also followed his uncle, New Zealand author Anthony Holcroft, in writing children's and adult books.

In 1974 Holcroft joined the Australian Army as a part-time soldier in the Army Reserve as an Infantryman, rising to the rank of Temporary Sergeant. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1982 into the Australian Army's PR Corps, the Australian Army Public Relations Service, and rose through the ranks to become the Corps's first Reserve Lieutenant Colonel in 1999. Holcroft graduated from the Australian Army's Reserve Command And Staff College as a Captain in 1987 and a Major in 1992. He saw active service in East Timor in 2000 as part of the United Nations Transitional Authority East Timor (UNTAET) and was posted in Iraq in 2006 as part of the Australian Army's Operation Catalyst based in Baghdad. Holcroft was awarded the Reserve Forces Decoration (RFD) in 1998 and the Australian Active Service Medal for his tour of duty to East Timor, in 2001. He was presented with the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Australian Defence Medal and the Iraq Campaign Clasp to the Australian Active Service Medal in 2006. Holcroft was also part of a Unit Commendation to the 1st Joint Public Affairs Unit by Australia's Chief of the Defence Force. In 2015 Holcroft celebrated 41 years of service in the Australian Army Reserve.

Since 1968 Holcroft has been a member of Scouts Australia as a "Senior Scout" (now called Venturers), Assistant Venturer Leader and Venturer Leader in charge of youths aged 14 to 18, (with some breaks in service). During his time as a Senior Scout and Venturer, he gained his Queen's Scout Award and the Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award. When he became a youth leader, he gained his Wood Badge and was awarded the Silver Wattle Award for meritorious service.

He is also a Justice of the Peace.

In 2008 Australia celebrated its Centenary of Scouting, and Holcroft wrote the first two novels in the Scott Morrow adventure trilogy to mark the occasion: Only The Brave Dare and Canyon. In 2010 Holcroft completed the trilogy with A Rite of Passage All three books followed the adventures of a group of venturers and a teenager who never wanted to be a hero but whom his country [1] needed.

In 2011 he published the first book in his Afterlife series, Finding Thomas. He explores what happens after someone dies in novel form using a teenage central character called Kit Green, in a focus on near death experiences.

Infinity Publishing (USA) has published Only The Brave Dare, A Rite of Passage and Finding Thomas, while Poseidon Books Australia has published Canyon. The books are sold in the USA, UK, India, New Zealand and Australia by major bookstores including Amazon.

The second book in Holcroft's Afterlife series is One Last Concert. It was published in April 2013 and Holcroft explores how to move on the spirits of people who have died suddenly and are trapped on Earth. One Last Concert is published by Infinity Publishing (USA).

Influences

Holcroft's inspirations for his novel writing were drawn from real life experiences as a newspaper reporter, a soldier and a Venturer leader. He found a lack of imaginative, challenging and adventurous books available for teenage boys to read, so he wrote his novels to encourage boys to read more and enjoy the great outdoors. At his various book launches and discussion groups among adults he found a distinct lack of knowledge about God or a superior being, and what happens when people die among adults so he started his afterlife series as a way of introducing the subject of death but adding an adventurous tale to it.

Personal life

Holcroft lives in Banksia, New South Wales, where he wrote his first five books. He is married with three sons.