writer. accidental farmer. tiny hotelier
Neil Varcoe is an Australian writer, former journalist and tech executive. He recently bought a hotel.
He started a new role at Twitter Australia in August 2021. Neil was the Country Lead in Curation — overseeing Global English Markets from his time zone, with 150 million unique users daily. The Curation team was a group of quiet heroes inside Twitter, quickly, accurately and objectively summarising complex conversations in real-time. His role was made redundant following the Elon Musk acquisition, along with approximately 75% of staff worldwide.
Neil previously held a world-first role at Google Australia. The 12-month fellowships sat within News Lab, a global team at Google whose mission is to collaborate with journalists and entrepreneurs to build the future of news. You can read more about the position on his blog.
He also led News Corp Australia’s shift to digital by building a national training program for newsrooms. He trained over 1,000 journalists in social media, search and mobile video. Neil also taught journalists and editors how to maximise readership and revenue.
Neil launched social news start-up Storyful in Australia. It was a first-of-its-kind service providing publishers and brands with social media content for their storytelling. He was also Head of Social Media at the ABC — leading the business through a period of dramatic change.
He directed Foxtel’s online and mobile coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the Delhi Commonwealth Games. Foxtel streamed 1600 hours of live sport — each moment shown on-air, online and on mobile. It was the most comprehensive broadcast in Australian history, setting a benchmark rival broadcasters took 7 years to equal.
Neil also worked at Yahoo! Australia, Fairfax Media (now Nine Entertainment and the Australian Associated Press. Before his media and technology roles, he had a varied career as a blood courier, petrol station attendant, and a brief stint blowing up jumping castles for kid’s parties.
Neil was a Google News Initiative trainer and led the Online News Association in Australia. He has a Master of Creative Writing from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Media in Writing from Macquarie University. He was also a journalism lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney and Charles Sturt University, Bathurst.
Alongside full-time work in the city, Neil maintained an unexpected side hustle. Warramba is a luxury farm stay in the Capertee Valley in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. He now manages the business full-time, in addition to a new project. Neil and his wife Edwina Bartholomew purchased a historic guest house in Carcoar near Orange in Country NSW in June 2023. Renamed Saltash Farm, it will reopen as a boutique hotel in 2025.
In his spare time, Neil is a Dad to daughter Molly, son Tom and a delinquent cattle dog named Mate. He drives a classic car and writes short stories.
Learn more about the things that make him proud or connect with him via the links below.
You can also check out his LinkedIn profile below, download his CV and subscribe to his monthly newsletter for Galah — We Bought a Hotel.