Phil Dye. Adult Human Male, Father, Partner, Singer and Dog Lover
I began my work-life as a teacher in Nowra on the South Coast of NSW. After 16 years in education, I retrained in Communication Management specializing in science and medical communication.
Yep. Body parts!
I worked for the NSW Blood Service and the Australian Bone Marrow Registry before eventually becoming the National Communication Manager for Organ Donation. I won awards for telling people how to recycle body parts without making them feel sick.
I went on to lecture in Communication at UTS and in 1998, wrote ‘The Father Lode’, published by Allen and Unwin. I continued to teach casually, lecture in Communication and write for newspapers nationally. I also wrote two more books on business and media yet that’s enough about them.
Between 2011 and 2013, I worked with people with moderate to extreme disabilities. It was sometimes fun but mostly difficult and emotionally challenging. Music became an important part of this work. It also seeded my interest in the brain.
In 2014 I became an Educator in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of NSW. My role was to make complex things simple and use plain English to teach everyone from school aged children to visiting overseas medical delegations.
One of the concepts I explained was the use of the Deep Brain Implant to treat conditions like Parkinson’s Disease and Epilepsy. This further boosted my fascination with the brain and I formed Mindz Brainplay – the first concept to take neuroscience out of the lab and into schools, pubs, nightclubs and boardrooms.
I used EEGs to show students and the public what is happening in their brain in real time. It was the first concept in the world to use this technology for public education and I became known to students as ‘Phil Dye the Brain Guy’.
Over all this time, I was playing music in pubs, clubs and anywhere. Taught by the late and great Richard Gill, I played my first gig at the age of 14 at ‘The Copper Kettle’ restaurant in West Ryde. I played the Bob Dylan song Ýou Aint Goin’ Nowhere’ three times that night as my song-list was limited. I still sing it.
I went on to be a founding member of The Moonshiners and then to solo performances – including to members of the Royal Family and then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in London. Barry Humphries and Rolf Harris were on the same bill that night. They were excellent. I was a very average last minute stand-in as the other main act was sick. All of my music can be found on SPOTIFY.
In 2020, I was mentioned by name in Federal Parliament for my ‘Songs for Lockdown’ concerts to isolated communities during covid. I didn’t deserve such accolades as it got me out of the house without being arrested. I’ll accept it though.
I still do the occasional brain incursion into schools, run teacher PD on ‘The Learning Brain’, dabble in music and most recently, host both the Philtered Podcast and the ‘Marking the Role’ podcast for teachers.
‘Philtered’ - looks at issues confronting our society which I believe is on the brink of a fall into destructive identity politics. Central to this is the cult of gender identity which is currently infecting nearly every aspect of public life. There is only male and female - nothing in-between.
