[3] Watson lived in the Sunshine Coast area for a while,[1] and early jobs included as salesman, film technician, and law clerk for the 1987 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
[1] Watson wrote short stories, but changed focus to poetry, inspired by one of several companies that reject his drafts noting that his writing contained good poetic elements.
[citation needed] In the late 1990s, Watson was invited to participate in a Brisbane City Council project to raise awareness of the Boondall Wetlands, alongside fellow poets Brett Dionysius and Liz Hall-Downs.
[5] His 2004 poetry collection Smoke Encrypted Whispers was set to music by 23 Brisbane-based composers, who each wrote a two-minute piece to respond to a particular poem.
The project was commissioned by the clarinettist Paul Dean, who conducted a recording of the work featuring soprano Margaret Schindler and the Southern Cross Soloists, with Ron Haddrick narrating.
[1] In 2007 he was appointed artist-in-residence for the Utan Kayu Literary Biennale in Indonesia, which included translations of his work being presented to audiences in Jakarta and central Java.