'Jennifer Brookes studied a bachelor of arts at the University of New England (UNE) including one unit on biography and autobiography, before completing a Diploma of Education at Sydney Teachers College. After some years employed in New South Wales (NSW) and Australian Capital Territory secondary schools as a teacher of English and history, she embarked on a mixed and varied career as a school and public librarian and archivist, acquiring a graduate diploma in library and information science along the way. Now living in Yass, NSW, and forever inspired by the rigorous foundational work of her father, the indefatigable genealogist Laurence Halloran, she is working on the background and experiences of Lydia Ann (Anna) Hall, the long-term partner of their forebear Laurence Hynes Halloran, convicted of forgery in 1818 but transported for much else.' (Australian Journal of Biography and History: No. 7, 2023)
