Cary and I were married at the beginning of 1968, and I applied for and got a job as lecturer at the Emily MacPherson College. This was at the time when the whole college assembled in the hall to watch the extraordinary event of man walking on the moon.I was often teaching students only three years younger than me which was fun and rewarding. My nutrition knowledge was so fresh I enjoyed teaching. I went to great effort to make practical classes interesting and relevant to what they would be … [Read more...]

After graduating as a dietitian, I returned to Melbourne to the Technical Teachers Training College in Toorak which I also loved. It wasn’t until years later that teaching was seen as an additional valuable skill for dietitians in helping patients. Teaching home economics to young girls in a low socio-economic area was rewarding. I remember one very bright likeable student, Imelda, who was unable to concentrate or sit still. She would tell me that she was less on-the-go in my class than for the … [Read more...]

My last year of dietetics training was a practical one at Royal Perth Hospital where we learned by being involved in the provision of food to the 500 patients, including food for those on special diets. I remember staff going to the trouble of collecting sausages or desserts liked by patients with cancer from particular delicatessens. We learned the whole process from collecting patient food choices to management in the huge kitchen. I was most impressed by the very patient woman who sat in a … [Read more...]

While completing my diploma I stayed at a wonderful hostel run by dedicated women who also ran many interesting adult education classes in the evenings. They were very bright women who took an interest in us ‘country girls’ and we shared meal times. The senior woman used to tease me unmercifully. One day I had the courage to ask her “Why do you tease me so much?” She replied, “Because you always react so beautifully!” It made me aware of this aspect of myself and I was watchful about reacting … [Read more...]

I completed the last two years of my diploma at the Emily McPherson College of Domestic Economy, a Melbourne college dedicated to tertiary courses in cooking and sewing. Almost all staff and students were female. It provided a pleasant mix of traditional attitudes of these courses being for women, in an era where girls could aspire to become dress designers, restaurateurs or scientists. We felt we were the early “liberated career women”. I was able to change from the home economics course to the … [Read more...]

Reaction when becoming very cold I spent my last year of secondary school going into the second year of a Diploma in Nutrition and Food Service at the new Sebastopol Technical School in Ballarat. I had one happening that was most distressing at the time. I did not understand until much later where it fitted into being food-sensitive. In the 1960s we had to sit for three hours for many exams, and on one occasion I got very cold.After we finished my good friends took me to the senior teacher who … [Read more...]

An enquiring mind, but… I think it was after year nine that my school report commented: “Has an enquiring mind. Would do well if she would concentrate”. What this did was to make me try to concentrate harder. What was not understood is that the reason I could not concentrate was because my brain would jump from idea to idea. Parents of ADHD kids often report their “thinking is all over the place”.  Now I understand it as having a brain that has all connecting files open all the time. This can be … [Read more...]