In his youth, Gordon Simpson spent time in and around Cowra Mission, New South Wales. In the 1970s, Simpson became the Koori Housing Coordinator, where he brokered deals for the Indigenous people living on the mission to receive new housing and repairs. Following a change of Federal Government in 1975, funding for housing on the mission was reduced. Simpson, however, still arranged for Cowra Mission's first sewerage system to be installed.
