Meet the Mythic Team
The Creators
Mythic Australia is principally a husband and wife collaboration of Ian and Sue Coate. For twenty years and around many campfires, Mythic Australia has been a labour of love between raising three kids and fulltime jobs in art and IT. Ian does the writing and illustrating while Sue does all the administrations, websites and marketing involved with this self-publishing enterprise.
Who is KIP NUTTER? He’s the little bush nutter who has whispered all the mythic stories to Ian and Sue.
Kip Nutter
Author / Mythic Ambassador to Humans
Kip Nutter is a bush nutter, six centimetres tall, who lives in a gumtree in Kings Park. Unlike other mythics, Kip has a great interest in the affairs of humans. After purchasing a mobile phone and getting a taste for the internet, Kip realised he needed a job to pay the ongoing costs of owning a phone. That’s when he decided to become an author. Kip jotted down volumes of notes about his travels around Mythic Australia and the strange creatures he met. Now all he needed was a human co-author and illustrator and someone who could create a website and help him publish his books. That’s when Kip met Ian and Sue.
To see the illustrated version of Kip’s Story: PRESS HERE
Ian Coate
Creator of Mythic Australia | Author | Illustrator
Ian is a seventh generation Aussie with a mixed family tree of farmers, soldiers and convicts. When he is not working on Mythic Australia, he is a military artist / freelance illustrator / author and is currently the Australian SAS Historical Foundation’s Artist-in-Residence.
Ian is a former soldier who joined the Royal Australian Survey Corps in the late 1980’s and was trained as an illustrator-reprographic and military-photographer. In the mid 1990’s, Ian left the army to pursue a career as an artist / illustrator. Since then, Ian has produced an endless variety of illustrations for government health organisations and educational institutions. In his capacity as a military artist, Ian’s paintings are exhibited in museums around Australia, while his prints are sort after by collectors worldwide.
If you wish to know more about Ian Coate and his other works, you are invited to visit his websites at: iancoate.com
Sue Coate
Co-Creator of Mythic Australia | Web Designer | Administrator
Born in Melbourne, Sue has always loved the outdoors and participating in sports and athletics. In the early 80’s, Sue enlisted in the Australian army. She changed from the Royal Australian Corps of Transport to the Royal Australian Signals Corps. Sue served 17 years in the army, attaining the rank of Sergeant, with a 7 month tour in Timor as part of INTERFET in 1999. She honourably discharged from the military in 2001 to pursue are career in IT.
Sue is now a Senior Systems Engineer and utilizes her computing skills to administer Mythic Australia in numerous different ways.
When not travelling in the outback recording sounds and getting ideas for Mythic Australia, Sue keeps herself fit by competing in the Masters Athletics. She is a respected heptathlete with West Australian records in javelin, high jump, pentathlon and heptathlon. Sue has even won the prestigious WA Master’s Patron’s Trophy.
Important Contributors
Ian, Sue (and Kip) receive essential support from family and friends who have helped shape Mythic Australia with sound advice, beautiful illustrations, editing, modelling and model-making. Though there has been many who have contributed to Mythic Australia’s success, the following people’s involvement has impacted greatly
Elin Tan
Illustrator | Concept Artist
Born in Malaysia, Elin immigrated to Australia at the age of 10 where she instantly fell in love with the unique country’s wildlife, inspiring landscapes and lifestyle.
Elin is an award winning fantasy artist and photographer with a Bachelor’s Degree in Art – majoring in Illustration Design and Photography. Though she has only recently graduated, Elin is already a published illustrator collaborating on various artistic projects with Government, Education and Indigenous Departments.
Mythic Australia has been a great outlet for Elin’s creative energy as it combines her love for fantasy art with her love of Australia.
To see the range of Elin’s impressive works, please visit her website at: ElinTanArt.com
David Webb
Senior Editor
David Webb’s newspaper career began as a cadet journalist in Melbourne in 1953 and ended as editor-in-chief of The Sunday Times, Perth, in 1987. In that time he held many editorial positions – as reporter, feature writer, sub-editor, editor and occasional columnist – on newspapers in New Guinea, Sydney, Mount Isa, Adelaide and Perth.
After leaving newspapers and settling in Perth, he continued his writing as a self-employed publicist for local organisations.
An earlier association with a former newspaper colleague (by then an established international book publisher based in Singapore), led to writing titles such as Your Body, Your Choice (Media Masters, 2000) and Joe, the Blue-eyed Cockatoo (a true adventure story about a rare New Guinea parrot, illustrated by Ian Coate).
Further editing and writing followed, as well as co-authoring WA-based books with fellow journalist David Warren, including Beyond the Round House (Longley Books, 2005) and Safe In Our Hands (PMH Foundation, 2009).
David now lives in Queensland where he moved to be with family after his wife, Susanne, passed away in 2013.
Elishah Coate
Teachers’ Resources Developer | Concept Consultant | Model
Elishah is a primary school teacher that has a real passion for Australia and is very proud of being an eighth generation Aussie with a mixed family tree of convicts, farmers and soldiers. Elishah hopes to inspire her love of all things Australian in her students and spark their interest so they put down their ipads to explore the outdoors.
To this end, Elishah has created a library of fun Aussie worksheets and activities that is now ‘free to download’ for teachers and parents alike.
Check them out on the Free Resources page and add a tru-blue Aussie flavour to your classroom.
Matt McCree
Editor
Caroline Garstone
Editor | Fact Finder
Adventure certainly has surrounded Caroline’s life: growing up canoeing and camping on the Blackwood and Murray Rivers, fossicking for gems or old bottles in the Goldfields or lazing on beaches.
In her early 20’s, Caroline found the city a little too crowded and decided to seek work in the Kimberley at a station at the top of Western Australia. Here she met her husband, Alan, who owned Kingston Rest Farms, 70km out from Kununurra. Life suddenly had many challenges that Caroline and Alan battled through together like unexpected floods, fires and locust plaques. She even found time to enlist in the army-reserves (with Norforce) and have three children.
Having no schools close by, Caroline had to enrol their three children in Kimberley School of the Air. With no formal teaching skills, Caroline took on the teacher/ parent role, and in time became very passionate about it.
Today, Caroline and Alan live on a sheep and beef farm south of Perth with a whole lot of new challenges and adventures.
Dave Wyatt
Model & Diorama Designer
Dave grew up in a rural town in Southern England, a son of an Ironmonger. While studying Building Surveying in London, Dave met his future wife, Gay, an Aussie girl whose father was an Australian Officer seconded to the British Army. In 1973, Dave followed Gay back to Perth, as a Ten-Pound-Pom, and started work as an Estimator in Construction Engineering. With a career spanning 35 years, he worked on prestigious projects, such as: the North-West Shelf, the second Narrows Bridge and the Forrest Highway.
Dave retired as Senior Chief Estimator for WA, but today is busier than ever. As well as creating amazing models and dioramas for Mythic Australia, Dave coaches and participates in Masters Athletics. He has won many medals at a state and national level and coached others to do the same.
On top of this, Dave plays electric bass for the popular local band: ‘What Katie Did’, seen on the following link: www.whatkatiedidband.com
John Mennen
Model Designer | Proof Reader
As a young boy in Holland during WW2, John survived the bombing of Eindhoven. In 1952, at the age of 13, John immigrated to Australia. Within days of arriving, John was droving and fencing in the Australian Alps. Later, John moved to Ballarat and became an A-grade Welder and Turner & Fitter at the School of Mines. It was at Ballarat where he met his wife, Eileen, and started a family.
Moving to Geelong, John worked for Ford in charge of automation (maintenance) for two years. Wanting a change, John joined the Victorian Police Force which became his career for thirty years.
Now John is retired and whenever possible he and his wife join the ranks of the Grey Nomads in their motorhome to wander around Australia.
Kevin Coate OAM
Australian Natural History Consultant | Proof Reader
Kevin is a renowned bush guide, ornithologist and naturalist, with a background in forestry. He has published numerous original observations on the natural world. In 2009 he was awarded an OAM for recording natural history of Western Australia and service to conservation.
Kevin’s love for the Australian bush has led him to take like-minded people by land, sea and air to some of Australia’s most remote and least known places. In June 2000 he won the State’s top guiding award – the Facet Golden Guide Award. In 2001 he was a recipient of a ‘Premiers Award to Legends of the hospitality and Tourism Industry’, a one-off award that marked the start of the new millennium and the contribution of individuals to those industries over the previous 30 years. In the south-west of Western Australia, there is even a road, Coate Road, named in his honour – a reminder of his forestry days.
Today, Kevin is as busy as ever in ‘so-called’ retirement. Amongst other undertakings, he has recently co-authored a book, titled Finch Trapping in the Kimberley, published by Hesperian Press, which can be seen on the following link: www.hesperianpress.com
Yvonne Coate OAM
Australian Natural History Consultant | Proof Reader
Yvonne is a sixth generation Australian from a dairy farming background at Margaret River. She grew up experiencing the end of the old era – before refrigeration, electricity and scheme water, onwards to the present digital age.
From the mid 1970s, Yvonne and Kevin were involved in nature-based tourism extending over the whole of Australia. Between raising four children and running a business, Yvonne became a foundation member of the Western Australian Genealogical Society and their Inaugural editor. In 2014 Yvonne was elected as a ‘Life Fellow’ of the Society.
In 2009, Yvonne was awarded an OAM for service to the community, particularly in the recording of Western Australia history, eco-tourism and conservation. She has authored a number of books on Western Australian pioneering history and after forty years of research, recording and cataloguing Western Australian lonely graves, recently published four volumes on them. Her publications and website on Western Australian Lonely Graves &Burials at Sea can be seen on the following links: www.hesperianpress.com
Chris Mennen
Concept Consultant | Proof Reader | Model
Since early childhood, Chris has always had a passion for exploring fantasy worlds such as: C.S. Lewis’s Narnia Series and J.R.R. Tolken’s Lord of the Rings. He is an avid reader and few can match his knowledge on the Star Wars and Marvel Universe.
Even though Chris has embraced his ‘inner nerd’, he is far from being nerdy. In 2004, he enlisted in the Australian Army and since then has been deployed twice to Afghanistan. Chris has travelled the world with the military and seen the best and worst of human nature.
His love of fantasy combined with his life experience has been an invaluable asset creating the Mythic Australia Universe.
Rachael Coate
Concept Consultant | Model
Rachael has grown up with Mythic Australia being discussed around the dinner table. She has contributed and enriched the Mythic Australia Universe with her many concept sketches and ideas. Over the years, Rachael has modelled for many of the book illustrations; primarily, Rachael is the bush walker in the first Mythic Australia book: Drop Bear.
Rachael has always been very athletic and in 2012 she came fourth in the Australian under 20s High Jump.
After university, Rachael lived in England for two years with her partner, Matt. They both worked in medical fields and added to their life experiences travelling Europe.
Today, Rachael is a registered nurse studying midwifery.
Mythic Australia uses local printers and businesses to keep their products Australian made. We would like to give a special thanks to Nirav and Quality Press who have assured (as their name suggest) the highest quality for our books and prints.
