I enjoyed being a Brownie and a Girl Guide. I loved and practiced ballet for many years. I loved music and learned to play many musical instruments.

I have a father (Dick) and mother (Sue) and a brother (Wayne) who is now married (to Robyn) with a son (William).

Wayne and Robyn manage the property that I grew up on and although many of the products are similar, production methods are developing and they have recently purchased the neighbouring property increasing the property size to 3500 acres. Robyn manages a White Suffolk Sheep Stud that is enjoying considerable success. The goats are gone as is the Poll Devon Stud and the piggery is now a large intensive concern with over 180 sows.

I attended the Boyup Brook District High School from Kindy to year 6, then boarded at Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Perth, completing year 12. I attended the University of Western Australia to complete a Bachelor of Science majoring in Zoology. I was passionate about zoology and decided to attend Murdoch University to complete Honours in Veterinary Biology, researching the renal morphology of three small marsupials. I utilised stereology techniques to compare the kidney form and function of the nectivorous Honey Possum, the omnivorous Pygmy Possum and the insectivorous Dunnart. The hypothesis proved correct: that the renal morphology would reflect the variations in dietary water intake.

I then undertook a Graduate Diploma of Education again at the University of Western Australia, providing me with the necessary qualification to teach secondary Science and Society and Environment. I had been involved in Vacation Swimming for many years by now and knew that I loved teaching, so I thought I would combine both passions (teaching and zoology).

Teaching was a wonderful experience. I worked for the Department of Education and Training in Western Australia in a variety of schools, both metropolitan and rural. I utilised my understanding and love of animals to pique my students’ interest, always having a classroom that was “alive” and “green”. Consequently, I have had quite a career as a Foster Mum/Carer for: baby kangaroos, emus, a variety of possums (pygmy, honey and brushtail), birds, reptiles and amphibians and lots of rabbits, guinea pigs and rodents. I was privileged to share most of these years with a special friend – Samson, a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Unfortunately, he passed away early in 2004…the end of an era!

To take on this role I relocated to Esperance, a truly magnificent environment and one worthy of protection via education. I loved walking on the pristine white beaches, in the heathland vegetation and up and down the pink granite headlands, and this is just on my morning walks around the town.  Two of Esperance's beaches have just been voted the whitest in Australia - YAY!!!

I devised an opportunity to look at what we were doing in Western Australia and how that related to other activities in other states. I found a funding body, The Soil and Land Conservation Council, and received $20 000 with which I coordinated an interstate study tour. This tour took fourteen Western Australian’s to three Eastern States and looked at, spoke to and discussed some of the programs running in each state. The Executive Summary details the findings which were that Western Australia is considerably lacking in its Governmental support for environmental education. What could we do about this?

At a similar time The State Sustainability Strategy was released and there is hope that this will be fully implemented at all levels of government, addressing some of the major environmental issues.

Throughout my career I have had a role to play in effecting considerable positive change. I decided that the future of our environment rests with our children having the ability to make informed and appropriate decisions. This will be influenced by what they know and have experienced. Therefore time spent at school, learning about the environment and how to effectively manage it, becomes imperative. Wanting to explore this more deeply I took an opportunity to become a Curriculum Officer in the Esperance District Office as I thought this would be an effective way to support teachers to develop their understandings and support students environmental education via curriculum.

I really enjoyed this role and I believe that I made some positive contributions, especially by working with my colleagues to develop a useful curriculum planning tool "The Esperance Outcomes Focused Planning Framework". This interactive planning framework allowed teachers to utilise their Notebook computers (another Department initiative: providing leased laptops for all teachers) to plan from the mandated (and newly released) Curriculum Framework and to utilise the Student Outcome Statements to support effective assessment.

I enjoyed working in this collaborative environment for two years even taking on the managers role for a while.  During this time I purchased my second house and spent many long and fun hours renovating it and creating a fabulous garden all around it.  I made a decision, however, to leave the comfort of Esperance in an attempt to continue to grow professionally.  I won a position in Central Office and moved to Perth. My new job title was School Information Systems Curriculum Officer.  

It was while in my role in Esperance that I won the Churchill Fellowship.  However I did not take up this exciting opportunity until I had moved to Perth the following year.  I combined my accumulated long service leave with Churchill leave (thanks to the Department of Education and Training!!!) and resigned my position deciding to embark on an adventure across North America.  My project was to investigate how schools and communities worked together to encourage the success of school environmental initiatives. I worked hard during my journey to keep a journal and visual diary... check this out!!