Rick and Belinda's Home Page

Welcome to our home page. Perhaps you wish to know something about us. If so, click here to find out some of the more interesting details about what we have been up to recentlly.

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We have a wide variety of interests, but particularly US Politics and the Clinton Presidency. Other information on the US Federal Government can be found at the Federal Web Locator , while the US Information Service also provides useful material on US Foreign Policy.

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I am also fascinated by Star Trek (particularly The Next Generation) and science fiction, in general. I am a keen juggler and also totally addicted to movies and television. I like Australian Rules football , Cricket, and Carl Jung .

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If you are looking for anything of interest, I've always found the best place to start is the Yahoo Index . If you want to search for information specifically on Australia try clicking here .

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Biographical Details

RICK: I was born on 12 July 1963 in Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria in Australia. After attending Hadfield Primary and Hadfield High Schools where I grew up in the north-western suburbs of Melbourne, I studied at Melbourne University from 1982 to 1985, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Diploma of Education. In 1986, I taught English at Footscray Girls' High School in the western suburbs of Melbourne.

In 1987 I moved to Australia's capital, Canberra , after being recruited into the Australian Diplomatic Service. After diplomatic training for much of 1987, I was posted to Honiara, the captial of Solomon Islands (a Pacific Island nation neighbouring Australia) as Third Secretary, developing an expertise in South-West Pacific/Melanesian politics while there. I completed my posting in late 1989 and throughout 1990 was the Solomon Islands Desk Officer in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). At that time I also began working on Australia's relations with Papua New Guinea (a larger Pacific Island country directly to the north of Australia) and was posted there as First Secretary from 1991 to 1994. In PNG I was responsible for reporting on PNG politics, a range of bilateral issues and mining and petroleum issues.

In 1994, I returned to Australia to take up the position of Executive Officer in the United States Section of DFAT. I was responsible for analysing reports from the Australian Embassy in Washington DC and preparing policy advice on matters relating to US politics, US foreign policy and US relations with Australia. From early July 1996 I have been the First Secretary at the Australian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden. Belinda, my partner, is a journalist with here in Stockholm.

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If you have any comments on this diverse range of issues, you can E-mail us at belinda.goldsmith@swipnet.se .

Live long and prosper!

All of us are in the gutter

...but some of us are looking at the stars!

No, not said by Jean-Luc Picard, but Oscar Wilde!