His best known works include co-writing the play The Legend of King O'Malley with Bob Ellis.
He met his first wife, the poet and writer Margaret Scott, in England, and they migrated to Tasmania in 1959.
There he taught at a Hobart high school, while Margaret developed her career as a poet and writer.
Boddy and Dawson moved to Binalong, from where he wrote a regular food column for The Canberra Times.
He died in April 2014, aged 80; he was survived by Janet Dawson Boddy, two children (a third son predeceased him), six grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and a sister.