S Rhys Jones

A bit about myself. Born in Australia during the turbulent 60's, my mother is Irish, and my father was Cymraec (Welsh). This may explain much!

Born in Sydney, I spent the first years of my life in Brisbane before returning to Sydney. I have lived in the UK, travelled much of Europe, and now reside again in Australia.

Growing up, I remember the stories that my mother used to tell to us about the folk tales of Eire. I always thought it a shame that my Dad didn't have the same connection with his heritage that my mother did. I think that explains why as I began to rummage around in the old 'Culture Vault', I gravitated more to the Cymraec side of my heritage - after all, in Oz, the Irish are really quite well represented! Well, that, and the fact that I 'fell in love' with Stevie Nicks because of her song Rhiannon!

The development of Caer Australis over the years has allowed me to focus on certain aspects of Cymraec mythology and culture. The site has developed into a more general Celtic site since 2004 (when it was totally revamped - which seems to be an annual event these days!), and has an emphasis on research that has been done by John Bonsing, and myself, with regards to the Celtic Calendar - the culmination of which will be a print publication due for release in the near future. My aim is to, over the next couple of years, introduce some of the more 'spiritual' aspects of Celtic-ness.

The development of the Arthur Project (arthurproject.caeraustralis.com.au) which explores the "historical" figure of King Arthur, and also touches on those aspects of his legend that have influenced the world today. The Project was begun as part of a Uni assignment for Web Design, but seemed to have some great potential appeal, and we couldn't not add it as part of Caer Australis.

And so we come to what I'm doing...after two previous and quite successful careers, I've begun on my third - Web Design. One of the big lessons I've learned there is that Uni is basically useless as a way to learn how to write pages and design! It really is one of those things that you have to develop yourself. The coding part is easy - there are about a gizzillion sites on the net that can help with xHTML and CSS - its the actual concepts that the designer has to come up with.

So, as we continue the journey of Caer Australis, and our individual journeys, I hope that we can cement new friendships, and regain older ones.

Hwyl!
S Rhys Jones
21 June 2006
rhys.jones@caeraustralis.com.au
My Blog | Caer Australis Blog