Donaldson, Roger

Hollywood film director Roger Donaldson was born at Ballarat, Australia in 1945. From 1963 to 1965 he studied geology at the Ballarat School of Mines (SMB). Although he described his days at SMB as 'great times', Donaldson took a break from his studies to experience the real world. After working in outback New South Wales he reviewed his career options when realising what a lonely existence a career in geology would be.

In 1965 Donaldson came to New Zealand from Australia on a summer holiday – fell in love with the country, skipped the Aussie draft, abandoned his career as a geologist and pursued his passion for photography. Much of his time was spent living and filming in West Auckland.

Working first within the photography field Donaldson learnt many of his skills from Auckland photographer Bill Double. During the 1970s Donaldson became interested in documentary film making. From this he moved onto Television and then  feature films.

His New Zealand small screen work includes