 In 1967 Payne emigrated to Australia.Payne won his first award in 1978 with his work "Albert's Bellyful" which won the Ditmar Award for best Australian short fiction.In 1995 he won the Aurealis Award for best horror short story with his chapbook "Olympia" beating works by Terry Dowling, Leanne Frahm, Philip Neilsen, and Kaaron Warren.