Jackson was born in England in 1944, moving with his parents to Australia at 15, returning a year later to study at the Sutton School of Art and the Wimbledon College of Art. In 1975, he was one of the founding members of Widden Weddin, a group of artists who built their studios on 25 acres of land in Wedderburn, New South Wales, and this remained his base for 38 years.