Journalist and author Ian Dougherty has spent much of his life in the south of New Zealand. He was born and raised in Dunedin and has an MA in history from Otago University. He has worked as a journalist in Invercargill and taught journalism at the Southland Polytechnic (Southern Institute of Technology). He spent several years living in the fishing village of Waikawa on the region’s south-east coast. His keen interest in tramping has given him a first-hand knowledge and love of Southland and its out of the way places. He is the author of 28 books on New Zealand history, biography, culture and society, from a biography of a southern folk hero: Arawata Bill: The Story of Legendary Gold Prospector William James O'Leary; to a book on Southland’s champion netball side: Southern Sting: The Team That Inspired a Region.