Bostock's formal education only went to year six as his headmaster thought he would do only menial labour and would not need any further education for that. For a while Bostock found employment as a seasonal worker, but he eventually joined the Australian Army in 1961 which took him overseas to Malaya and Borneo. After receiving most of his education from the Army during his service up until 1970, Gerry Bostock began to re-educate himself upon his return to Australia.
In 1972, Gerry Bostock participated in the political struggle surrounding the Aboriginal Embassy in Canberra. During this time he was an active participant in street theatre, helping to establish the Black Theatre in Sydney. Bostock was also among the second Aboriginal delegation to visit the People's Republic of China. In 1973, Bostock travelled throughout Australia discussing Aboriginal affairs, self determination and poetry with Aboriginal community members in the Northern Territory, NSW, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria. Gerry Bostock travelled to New Zealand in 1974 to have discussions and exchange different ideas about self determination programs.
When the Embassy collapsed Bostock felt compelled to write the poem 'Black Children' which was later published in Black Man Coming (1980). William H. Wilde, Joy Hooton and Barry Andrews in The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature, 2nd ed.(1994) note that this poem became a catchcry of the Indigenous political movement. Bostock found it hard to get his poetry published so when he wrote his play Here Comes the Nigger in 1974, he included a poet because he felt it was the only way his poetry could be shared with the public. Within the play, Bostock based the military character on his own experiences in the Australian Army.
Joining Film Australia in 1977, Bostock began working in film production, research and as an assistant on documentary films. Gerry Bostock and his brother Lester Bostock were the co-founders of Kuri Productions in 1985. His experience as a playwright gave him the opportunity to lead a practical workshop in the Our Words - Our Ways : National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Writers Workshop. In 1994 and 1995, Bostock was on the Sydney Writers' Festival Committee and was a panellist for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre : On the Edge during the 1995 festival.
