He was the founding Director of Science at Kings Park and Botanic Gardens, and helped to establish the laboratories there as among the world's leading.
[2][3] Dixon received a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and a PhD from the University of Western Australia (UWA).
[1] One of Dixon's most notable achievements is the 1992 discovery of smoke as a cause for the germination of Australian plants after bushfires.
[4] The study, which was published in 1995, applied knowledge which had previously been researched in South Africa to the native plants of his home state.
Dixon owns a 160-acre (65 ha) property near Waroona named "Cypress Farm and Gardens", where he lives with his husband.