Born in India, Barry completed his high school in Mount Hermon, a boarding school in Darjeeling, Queen of the Himalayas. Returning to Australia, he trained as a teacher and spent the subsequent eight years teaching in Papua New Guinea and another eight years in an international school in Asia.

Having completed his bachelors in anthropology and his master's in development studies, Barry has worked throughout Asia and Africa in a range of projects with Christian missions, NGOs, and the United Nations. Now retired with his family in Canberra, Australia, he is continuing with his Biblical Hebrew studies, as well as his passion for writing fascinating stories, both non-fiction as well as historical novels.