Christopher Daunt Watney was born in Nairobi, Kenya and educated in England. He completed his university degrees at the University of Queensland where he majored in English, History, French and Journalism. He completed his Master's degree in Education at the University of New England and he wrote his thesis on Athleticism as an ideology that informed education in Australia. He carried out preliminary Doctoral work on a comparison of culture in Girls' schools and Boys' schools.

He has worked in the Pharmaceutical industry in sales and marketing and has written as a theatre critic and directed several plays including his own adaptation of Under Milk Wood. He is a keen follower of sport, having played rugby, football, cricket and hockey at representative level.

Mr Daunt Watney moved to Cairns from Sydney where he was Headmaster of Sydney Church of England Co-Educational Grammar School, Redlands. He was at Redlands for ten years and prior to that was Head of English at Pymble Ladies College (Sydney) having moved there from The Armidale School where he spent ten years as Head of English and Senior Housemaster. Prior to that he taught overseas in Kenya where he was Head of History and taught English and Economics.

He has written on education for several publications and has presented at conferences on a number of educational issues. He has appeared on both radio and television discussing issues such as cyber-safety and has attended specialist seminars on bullying at the invitation of Dr Ken Rigby - Australia's leading expert on the subject. He is a member of the St James Ethics Centre in Sydney, a member of the Australian College of Education, the Australian College of Educational Leadership and of the Australian Institute of Management and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.