About Moi…
Don GARRATT
Elegant Web Solutions and Fine Art Colorist
Personal Details:
Australian born citizen, christened Gordon Wayne Garratt.
Excellent health, born 1953. Current A Class License.
Married (to Shelagh ‘She’ - together since Dec 1987)
With six adult children (39 - 23) between us, She’s 4 girls and my 2 boys.
I was educated at Guildford Grammar School (GGS), receiving citizenship Award (1970).
Currently studying a B.A. (Fine Arts) at Curtin University.
I enjoy researching art, philosophy, photography and IT (Information Technology), together with drawing, painting, classical music, dance and ballet.
Career Outline:
1962 - 1965 At 9yrs old on the farm, experimented with cameras, box camera photography from kites, finally setting up my own darkroom at 14.
1966 – 1970 Boarder in Henn’s House, GGS. At 16 setup school print shop, printing first colour school paper. Stage managed several plays, did photography, choir and swimming.
1970 – 1971 Commenced silk screen printing, researching and building my own silkscreen, hand printing fashion posters and billings, using up to 23 colours.
1971 – 1980 Over 9 years experience in the banking/finance, esp. money market trading, initiating early integration of computer data for 11am/24hr funds.
1977 – 1980 Flow charted bank’s private ledger of over 600 accounts in my spare time
then was seconded to implement, test and launch the new system on IBM mainframes.
1978 – 1980 Built (in my spare time) new high-res silk screen machine, developing new processes for printing multi-colour high definition maps, sold process to a print shop.
1980 – 1983 Three years joint management and running of family farms - wheat, oats, barley, sheep and cattle - returned to Perth due to irreconcilable family differences.
1980 – 1983 Researched infrared and Landsat pictures (from my camera/box kite idea)using early computers for identification and location of crop/pasture pests & diseases.
1983 – 1985 Two years managing a substantial money market & financial portfolio, taking it from AU$18M to AU$43M and developing AI spreadsheets to assist in decision making.
1983 - 1985 First major trader in Perth in Government Treasury Bonds - formed Government Securities Fund, successfully won 9 of 10 tenders, averaging 128% profit.
1985 – 1988 Opened own business. Three years of research, design & development of a rural database globally, with unique search facilities using artificial intelligence (AI).
1988 – 1993 Five years partnership with Shelagh, managing a business consultancy on cycles and propitious timing - very successful with over 6000 clients.
1988 – 1990 Developed an 8 line bulletin board with information, research and knowledge acquisition. Especially in the areas of the new CDRom technology and info retrieval.
1990 – 1994 Estb. software business with early internet research, graphics using fractal compression and large information databases. Govt, corporate and education clients.
1994 – 1997 Four years of research/design/development of a modular global travel database, with unique coding/search facilities and logic. Clients included IBM & SITA in USA
1997 - 2000 Contract for payment systems on wireless devices and mobile phones, including research/design/set up of web site promotions, especially search engine listings.
1998 – 2000 Three years research/design/development of a global search engine, with modular coding, simplified layout, allowing for uninhibited expansion and logic.
1998 – 2000 Set up & managed Alexanders Art Gallery on internet, including sorting, cataloguing and scanning some 4,000 items. Sadly, Alex passed away in early 2000.
2000 – 2002 Contract in USA with wireless and smart card payments systems, designed and implemented coding system for smart cards. Company fails after Sep 11th.
2002 – 2005 In Dec 2002 return to Australia, developed several web sites, commenced artistic pursuits and further development of hybrid internet search/directory engine.
2006 - Late Oct 2006 decide to follow my passion for Art and commenced a degree at Curtin University - B.A. (Fine Arts) …
Thank you for reading :)