Barry became interested in fireworks in England, at the age of four years, when his dad brought home a big bag of “Standard” fireworks for Guy Fawkes Night, 1950. A couple of years later the family moved to Western Australia, where Guy Fawkes was celebrated each year much as it had been in England.

HIs fascination with fireworks led Barry to take an interest in chemistry, which became his profession. He had a long career as a lab technician, followed by 27 years in the scientific instrument industry, working on various aspects of analytical atomic spectrometry.

In the 1980s Barry began collecting books and ephemera relating to fireworks and matches. He joined the PGI in 1988 and for several years worked after hours with a local firework display company under the direction of artist Peter Budarick. At about this time Barry had a part time business providing firework displays for school fetes and community festivals.

An article by Barry about one of Budarick’s displays was accepted by Robert Cardwell for publication in Pyrotechnica. This was the first of many publications; Barry is a regular contributor to John Bennett’s biannual magazine FIREWORKS and his writing has also appeared in Journal of Pyrotechnics, Propellants, Explosives, Pyrotechnics, American Fireworks News, and in the PGI Bulletin. From 2001 to 2007 Barry was a member of the Policy Board of the Journal of Pyrotechnics and a technical editor for that journal.

In 1995 Ken and Bonnie Kosanke wrote and published “The Illustrate Dictionary of Pyrotechnics”. In a flyer inserted in the book the Kosankes announced a two-year project to expand the work into an “Encyclopedic Dictionary of Pyrotechnics” and invited contributions. Bob Winokur and Barry joined the project as co-authors. The project took seven years and resulted in a 3-volume “Encyclopedic Dictionary of Pyrotechnics (and Related Subjects)” that was published in 2012. The book was well received and a second edition was immediately begun. After another seven years’ work the greatly expanded 4-volume second edition was ready for publication in 2019. Rather than producing what would inevitably have been a very expensive set of volumes, the authors decided to make the new edition available free of charge over the Internet. This was done in August 2019. Knowing Barry’s particular interest in matches, Ken Kosanke suggested that Barry should collect the match-related entries and present them as an “Encyclopedic Dictionary of Matches (and Related Subjects)”. This was done and the resulting book, carefully edited by Bonnie Kosanke, was made available as a free download from the website of the British Matchbox Label and Booklet Society in August 2020. A second enlarged edition is in progress.

Having retired in 2007, Barry embarked on post graduate studies in the history of fireworks at Monash University. He was awarded a Master of Arts in Historical Studies in 2012 and graduated as Doctor of Philosophy in 2017.

In 2017 Barry presented a small seminar at the 16th International Symposium on Fireworks at Omagari, Japan and in 2019 he presented a full seminar at the 17th International Symposium on Fireworks at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. In August 2019 Barry was invited to present a seminar at the 50th Convention of the Pyrotechnics Guild International in Gillette, Wyoming. At the Convention Barry had the great privilege of making rockets, Saxons, slat wheels and tourbillions under the expert guidance of Kurt Medlin. Since the Convention Kurt and Barry have collaborated in research on blue fires.
Barry and Amercan pyro enthusiast Tom Wenke collaborated for many years on researching the history of the Hitt Fireworks Company. The result, running to almost 500 pages, was made available free of charge on Tom’s website in October 2020.

Barry lives in Mount Waverley, as suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with his wife Sue. Barry and Sue will celebrate their Golden Wedding in January 2021. They have a son and a daughter, and four grandchildren. Barry and Sue both enjoy gardening and visiting antique markets, and are keen participants in their local old folks’ club. During the COVID-19 lockdown Barry and Sue have been producing two online newsletters each month for the old folks’ club.