“ I grew up in Devonport, Tasmania. It was basically just me, my mum and my brother. My father died when I was 4. His family were around though which was great. Mums family is from North QLD and Dad was from Tasmania.
I followed Mum in a way. When she was 19 she left QLD and travelled to Tassie on a working holiday and met my dad. When I was 19 I left Tassie, headed north and met my husband Andrew in Sydney. We were engaged for 2 years and we just had our 20th wedding anniversary. We have a 16 year old daughter and a 12 year old son.
When I left school I did a bartending course. No RSA back then. I had a Kombi Van and basically took off and did the East coast. I made it as far as Cooktown, met some great people and had a great time till I ran out of money. I went back to Tassie and took Andrew with me.
We stayed in Launceston for 6 months in a nice little cottage. It was freezing cold so we decided Byron was really nice. We moved up here in 1996 and ended up living in Lismore.
Andrew started at SCU doing music and I continually looked for work. It was that catch 22. I didn’t have the experience to get the job and I couldn’t get the job to gain the experience so I did heaps of Centrelink courses. We ended up in Coraki because it was cheap rent and we could have our pets. We bought a house there and stayed for 10 years doing up our run down house. It was a pretty area but it was hard living out there. Our lives were based in Lismore so eventually we sold, made a good profit and bought a house just up from the uni.
Good things then started to happen. I enrolled in a music business course at The Con. Andrew went back to Uni as he hadn’t completed his course. He has Bi-Polar which set him back a number of times. He started getting into Mental Health and now he’s actually a peer support worker with the Mental Health Service. I started getting into event management and began putting regular gigs on at The Winsome Hotel. It was such a nice pub, no pokies. They were called RAW. I would get Con students, buskers, music students and we’d have a blackboard where people could add their names and have a play at the end of the night. Often I would book them in for a set at the next one. It was a good way of finding good musicians. I see people now who are doing really well for themselves who started back then. I was doing that right up until The Winsome closed, which was a big blow.
I then started the Young Songwriters Comp with Lizette Twisleton. It’s now into it’s 7th year. That’s been a big ride.
One year I did The Peace Park stage at Mardi Grass. I basically volunteered to help out as I heard they needed an organiser for the acts. I also heard that Cheech and Chong were going to be in the country at the same time. I noticed in their schedule they had a gap when Mardi Grass was on. They were due to perform in Brisbane just prior. The agents didn’t reply to my calls or emails and I couldn’t get hold of them. I knew Chong was a really big activist. He goes to all the rallies over the world. I did a lot of research, found his phone number in LA and I called him. He was really lovely and he was interested. He gave me his cell number and asked me to call him back which I did. He really wanted to do it. We emailed back and forward and in the end he was warned off it as he had not long before that been to jail. They are always trying to find trouble at Mardi Grass and he was worried that he might have been a bit of a target. He said he would come one year in disguise.
I do acting. I’ve done lots of short films and music videos. A couple of years ago I joined the local theatre company and I love it. I did an independent feature film this year. Andy Jans-Brown who is a Byron musician has made a film. It has a lot of local people in it and will probably be finished early next year. It’s called Hell is Light. It’s a very heavy film about Ice.
About 5 years ago I finally got a decent job at the Star Court theatre. Eventually I finished there and started working at NORPA where I met Sharon Rigby. She’s done all the merchandising for Blues Fest for 30 odd years so she started getting me work at festivals, Splendour, Falls Fest, Blues Fest and at concerts. We got along really well and she ended up leaving Norpa and going to manage the Star Court theatre with Luke. After the flood Sharon asked if I would like to come and partner with her so I’m back at The Star Court Theatre. I love running the theatre.
I did a few horror films and had to be made up. It was a lot of fun. I heard about the Brisbane Zombie walk which raised funds for the Brain Foundation. The last one actually broke the world record with 20,000 zombies. They happen all over the world and a couple of years ago a guy had a heart attack and no-one noticed. He was sitting under a tree having a heart attack and everyone thought he was just being a zombie. He died sadly. In America they have pub crawl zombie walks. They had to stop it as their cost were getting too high and they wanted it to be affordable for all. Last year I organised the first Lismore Zombie walk to raise money for youth mental health. This year wasn’t such a big turn out as Lismore had so many things happening on the same day including our new gallery opening.
Lastly I should mention my husband is in a band. It’s called Hybridize. It’s a metal band. In his Peer Support work he runs a music group as well. I told him I’d give it a plug.”
I followed Mum in a way. When she was 19 she left QLD and travelled to Tassie on a working holiday and met my dad. When I was 19 I left Tassie, headed north and met my husband Andrew in Sydney. We were engaged for 2 years and we just had our 20th wedding anniversary. We have a 16 year old daughter and a 12 year old son.
When I left school I did a bartending course. No RSA back then. I had a Kombi Van and basically took off and did the East coast. I made it as far as Cooktown, met some great people and had a great time till I ran out of money. I went back to Tassie and took Andrew with me.
We stayed in Launceston for 6 months in a nice little cottage. It was freezing cold so we decided Byron was really nice. We moved up here in 1996 and ended up living in Lismore.
Andrew started at SCU doing music and I continually looked for work. It was that catch 22. I didn’t have the experience to get the job and I couldn’t get the job to gain the experience so I did heaps of Centrelink courses. We ended up in Coraki because it was cheap rent and we could have our pets. We bought a house there and stayed for 10 years doing up our run down house. It was a pretty area but it was hard living out there. Our lives were based in Lismore so eventually we sold, made a good profit and bought a house just up from the uni.
Good things then started to happen. I enrolled in a music business course at The Con. Andrew went back to Uni as he hadn’t completed his course. He has Bi-Polar which set him back a number of times. He started getting into Mental Health and now he’s actually a peer support worker with the Mental Health Service. I started getting into event management and began putting regular gigs on at The Winsome Hotel. It was such a nice pub, no pokies. They were called RAW. I would get Con students, buskers, music students and we’d have a blackboard where people could add their names and have a play at the end of the night. Often I would book them in for a set at the next one. It was a good way of finding good musicians. I see people now who are doing really well for themselves who started back then. I was doing that right up until The Winsome closed, which was a big blow.
I then started the Young Songwriters Comp with Lizette Twisleton. It’s now into it’s 7th year. That’s been a big ride.
One year I did The Peace Park stage at Mardi Grass. I basically volunteered to help out as I heard they needed an organiser for the acts. I also heard that Cheech and Chong were going to be in the country at the same time. I noticed in their schedule they had a gap when Mardi Grass was on. They were due to perform in Brisbane just prior. The agents didn’t reply to my calls or emails and I couldn’t get hold of them. I knew Chong was a really big activist. He goes to all the rallies over the world. I did a lot of research, found his phone number in LA and I called him. He was really lovely and he was interested. He gave me his cell number and asked me to call him back which I did. He really wanted to do it. We emailed back and forward and in the end he was warned off it as he had not long before that been to jail. They are always trying to find trouble at Mardi Grass and he was worried that he might have been a bit of a target. He said he would come one year in disguise.
I do acting. I’ve done lots of short films and music videos. A couple of years ago I joined the local theatre company and I love it. I did an independent feature film this year. Andy Jans-Brown who is a Byron musician has made a film. It has a lot of local people in it and will probably be finished early next year. It’s called Hell is Light. It’s a very heavy film about Ice.
About 5 years ago I finally got a decent job at the Star Court theatre. Eventually I finished there and started working at NORPA where I met Sharon Rigby. She’s done all the merchandising for Blues Fest for 30 odd years so she started getting me work at festivals, Splendour, Falls Fest, Blues Fest and at concerts. We got along really well and she ended up leaving Norpa and going to manage the Star Court theatre with Luke. After the flood Sharon asked if I would like to come and partner with her so I’m back at The Star Court Theatre. I love running the theatre.
I did a few horror films and had to be made up. It was a lot of fun. I heard about the Brisbane Zombie walk which raised funds for the Brain Foundation. The last one actually broke the world record with 20,000 zombies. They happen all over the world and a couple of years ago a guy had a heart attack and no-one noticed. He was sitting under a tree having a heart attack and everyone thought he was just being a zombie. He died sadly. In America they have pub crawl zombie walks. They had to stop it as their cost were getting too high and they wanted it to be affordable for all. Last year I organised the first Lismore Zombie walk to raise money for youth mental health. This year wasn’t such a big turn out as Lismore had so many things happening on the same day including our new gallery opening.
Lastly I should mention my husband is in a band. It’s called Hybridize. It’s a metal band. In his Peer Support work he runs a music group as well. I told him I’d give it a plug.”