Who is David Barclay-Miller
David Barclay-Miller grew up in 1960’s and 70s New Zealand, contending not only with parochial isolation, but also personal and family pathologies that have taken a lifetime to understand and overcome.
Born as Dave Miller in 1956, he was relentlessly curious, driven, and ambitious - determined to make something of his life. His place on the autism spectrum remained undiagnosed for decades.
Raised in a religious cult in a small South Island farming and fishing town, Dave's first brutal test of survival was the traditional all boys' high school that would enable entry to the University of Canterbury. In the latter, he gained the Bachelor of Science in Geology and Zoology that would be his ticket to escape the Antipodes.
Working diverse gruelling jobs - often simultaneously - to finance his studies, he found relief and escape in a love of outdoor pursuits, art, and music. Plucked through a chance encounter from a provincial teaching role, he set off to roam the world now as David Barclay-Miller.
For the next 40 years abroad, David worked as a Geologist, an Oil man, Investment Banker before emerging as a serial entrepreneur - re-inventing and redeeming himself while finding purpose, meaning and love.
David continued to write, play music, and pursue rare positive early memories; typically involving outdoor adventures often with a fly-rod in hand in both fresh and saltwater fisheries.
David Barclay-Miller is now retired, counting himself as a ‘blessed man’ and lives (relatively) quietly with his family and many dogs in the Badlands of southern Sweden-writing, building guitars, making knives, and sewing leather. He and his wife are actively involved in Charity work, for less fortunate persons.
