Bary Dowling grew up in Ballarat, Victoria. In the mid 1970s he moved to a farm on the northwest coast of Tasmania. He stayed there for nearly a decade then moved to a small sheep property at Learmonth, near Ballarat.
In addition to his memoir Mudeye : An Australian Boyhood and Beyond and his collection of stories Eyes of the White Hawk, Dowling also wrote poetry and reviews and was a travel and nature writer. Additionally, Dowling prepared many discussion notes for CAE book groups.
