"I wanted to meet a witch. A witch might be able to help with the Alexander Downer problem. No one else seems to have any ideas."

Paul Toohey

Paul Toohey was born in 1963 and brought up in Perth and Darwin.

Paul Toohey first worked in journalism for Darwin newspapers, and then moved to music magazines in Sydney and Melbourne, becoming editor of Rock Australia Magazine. He has always been interested in stories outside the mainstream media agenda, which helps explain why he later edited Melbourne's Truth newspaper and World magazine.

In the early and mid-1990s Toohey went freelance and had articles published in a variety of journals, including the Age, Good Weekend, and the Independent Monthly. These were collected with many unpublished items in his first book, God's Little Acre, for which Toohey travelled around Australia, and to New Zealand, America, Britain and Indonesia.

As a younger, original Australian writer, Toohey is unusual because he has chosen to work with non-fiction rather than fiction. He is now The Australian newspaper's man in Darwin.