November 18th, 2025Crime didn’t pay, but hosing and pruning did

Rod Halsted takes 18 seconds to give a rapid-fire rundown of his life of drug dealing, prison, alcoholism and survival. That’s on his website.

Add about an hour to that and a fair slice of his amazing existence appears. He’s put all this into a well-received book called Take My Advice, I’m Not Using It!. Now he’s touring Goldfields libraries to tell his story.
It begins in Gunnedah, outback NSW, where his stock and station agent father had him working in saleyards for the then generous amount of a pound a day. That was 70 years ago when he was four. A stark memory is of cranky drovers and mad sheep.
An even sharper memory is his father telling him when he was 10 that it was time to work with cattle. He was told to yard a steer by yelling at it. “It came at me like a Spanish bull. I put one foot on the rail and yelled, but in a kid’s voice. It turned and went into the pen.”
That day, he says, he learned to trust his judgement, but always have a Plan B.
After leaving school Rod hitchhiked to WA to work in the mines “with a lot of lunatics. People went there to escape”.
Sydney was his next stop in his early 20s, working in a wine bar. He met dodgy types, such as a marijuana dealer who wanted to go to Mexico, so Rod took over from him. “It was exhilarating, derring-do, as much as for the money.” On the first deal he went by bus. Within a fortnight he had a car.
He flew to Melbourne with a suitcase taller than his hip packed with tens of thousands of marijuana sticks worth $2 million in today’s value. There were no airport sniffer dogs in those days so his suitcase made it to the carousel while he went to make a phone call. This took longer than expected. He returned to find uniformed Commonwealth Police in large numbers and his suitcase circling.
Ever inventive, Rod adopted a limp and got one of the officers to help him with the suitcase.
His high life in Sydney included loud parties in a house across the harbour from the Prime Minister’s residence, Kirribilli House. One party was shut down by police because, says Rod, the PM complained that he couldn’t be heard.
As for drug-dealing, Rod says he only did “grass” drawing the line at powder or any mind-altering chemical drugs.
With these limitations he returned to his hometown of Albury, where he was arrested for dealing, spending six weeks in Silverwater Prison, west of Sydney, then a harrowing week in Goulburn Gaol, where he learned survival by adopting the “thousand-yard stare” to frighten those around him.
“I came out an angry, cold man. I had a couple of kids, but gaol had changed me. I tried to get my head square but failed totally.” His marriage broke up.
Booze took over his life until he found his way to Alcoholics Anonymous. Rod says when he stopped drinking he was $120,000 in debt and 30kg heavier than he is now.
He told one AA session about his life. Also attending was Barry Humphries, who told Rod he should write his life story.
Rod thought of using a ghost writer and about 10 years ago he talked with newspaper reporter Andrew Rule, who told him: “If you can write the way you tell a story, you can do it yourself.” Their 10-minute chat turned into two hours.
But the makings of the book vanished when his car with his laptop on the back seat was stolen in Albury. He appealed for help on ABC Radio’s Sunday morning “Macca” show. A listener spotted the car, but no laptop. Police later found it on the back seat of a suspicious car, along with stolen phones. “I’ve been blessed all the way.”
His next step in the long road from Gunnedah came when the award-winning journalist Chris Masters introduced Rod to his publisher.
At a recent book festival Rod met actor Bryan Brown who has two books out. Rod was canny enough to keep the film and TV rights to his book, so this could be yet another opening.
In Albury Rod set up a business cleaning driveways and roofs with high pressure hoses. Starting with $5000, he sold this business for a tidy profit, moving on to pruning roses, then mowing lawns. Eight years later he sold this business for a six-figure sum.
Now he’s on a big author’s tour of eastern Australia. Unlike many such tours, this one is dry. “I’m still an alky,” says Rod “so I don’t go near the stuff.”
There is still a drug dealer he’s fearful of publicly naming, showing the long shadow of his wild days.
Rod Halsted will talk with the highly regarded journalist Nicole Chvastek at the Wedderburn Library at 10am on December 10, Bendigo Library at 2.30pm on December 10, Gisborne Library at 2pm on December 11 and Castlemaine Library at 5.30pm on December 11.
Words: Kevin Childs | Image: Supplied