Jock was born on Nicholson Station bordering desert country near the East Kimberley where he now resides. He never knew his mother and was raised by his father and grandmother. He had no schooling, a fact he still regrets.

With no formal education, Jock has avidly participated in important cultural and business matters in his country. As a leading figure in Aboriginal Affairs in the Kimberley, everyone knows Jock.

He is from the Jaru people and married Doreen, a Kitja woman. He worked at Nicholson Station for Len Hill, a real “top man”. Before he was 20, Jock was offered a contract on the Australian Rodeo Circuit but he declined and remained a stockman for many years.

He and Doreen have six boys and two girls and thirty-two grandchildren. He is a real family man and very proud of his home.

In the 1970s, Jock painted alongside the famous Rover Thomas  on ceremonial boards for corroborees. One of the unique skills artists from the Kimberley region possess, is the ability to mix the natural ochre pigments to create truly spectacular colours, shadings and effects that give ochre artworks a uniqueness unseen in any other style of art anywhere in the world.

Jock only paints his country, which as a traditional elder, he believes is the right thing to do. This painting is of an important cultural site for the Jaru people in the Hall’s Creek area. The mountain range is Mulardie and the smaller hills are in Karin country.

Jock’s work is in the National Gallery of Australia and many other public and private collections.  A 2006 solo exhibition in Perth was a sellout.