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I was born in Sydney, my father worked in the Dept of Immigration so I was fortunate to spend much of my childhood overseas. I lived in London, Malta and Paris before coming back to Australia in July 1967. I was only at Telopea for 4 terms.
After studying for 4 years, I tried my hand at teaching (Maths) for a few years. The last school I taught at was actually Telopea – I wonder if anyone else from our year went back as a teacher?
In 1978 our first child, Sarah, was born and we bought a newsagency - I was very happy to leave teaching. Joshua arrived in 1979 then Tristan in 1983. Having our own business was great for me with 3 young children as I could work as much as I wanted with flexibility to take time off as required. However the hours were long and taking a family holiday was very difficult so I decided that nearly 10 years was long enough in a 7 day a week business. We then spent 4 months travelling overseas with the 3 kids. This was a great family bonding time and has given all our children a love of travelling. After spending the next 2 years studying and trying to decide what new career path I would follow, we ended up buying another 7 day a week business in 1990 – the Oz Design Furniture franchise in Canberra. We again worked very hard for nearly 13 years until I decided enough was enough and we took on a partner at the end of 2002. He is still with us and is now the major shareholder. I have gradually cut back my hours and fully retired last December.
I now keep myself busy playing bridge and golf, volunteering with the Red Cross. I am a regular plasma donor and regularly visit Melbourne to do grandmother duties with my 2 lovely granddaughters who are 3 and 15 months.