Audrey Hyde has lived a long and extremely interesting life on this planet. Audrey has seen more of the world than most from Malaya to Singapore, Hong Kong, Belgium and England before landing in Lismore where she and her husband John founded Friends Of The Koala. Audrey shared her remarkable story with Denise Alison from the Humans of Lismore.

“I’ve had a fantastic life. I started off in Singleton, NSW. I was 17 and the mines came to Liddell near Singleton. I was in a swimming club at that time as my twin brother was an Australian champion and he had to swim 3 times a day.

Being a twin and being the boy, he was spoilt. My Mum had 9 children including 2 lots of twins. The poor woman, no washing machine, just a copper. They were real pioneers those women, and she was poor. My mother would buy a season ticket at the pool for both of us and that kept us out of the house and exercising. We couldn’t afford tennis.

We used to have buses that took us to swimming in Musselbrook, Cessnock and Newcastle and buses that took us to dances in all the halls. The mines came to town and my mother said:-You keep away from those miners and those foreigners because they will be at those dances. Of course, that was exciting wasn’t it at 17. All I had in that town was sheep farmers or dairy farmers or clod-hoppers. I’ve been a rebel all my life. My brother was so good so I had to be naughty.

I was at a barn dance and this very tall Englishman was there. He was 6 1/2 years older than me. He asked me for another dance and my girlfriend said…that girl over there has her eye on him, so it was a challenge (laughs). I hid him from my family for 18 months because you had to be a good girl. Eventually being in a small town my mother found out and he was included. His name was John. I wasn’t allowed to get married till I was 20 so I turned 20 on the Friday, married on the Saturday and left for England to meet his family on the Monday.

Because we travelled a lot our marriage was alive all the time. He also had a great sense of humour so if you got angry, you’d end up laughing at yourself. He was a very special man. All my children will tell you that. When he died my granddaughter wrote a story saying…’You always treated your wife like a Queen’ and he did. I was very fortunate. I drew the long straw.

Off we went to England and I didn’t even know how to iron a shirt or cook a meal. It was wartime and you weren’t allowed in the kitchen. Everything was precious. I was on the ship with a lot of snotty nose Englishman who were only too happy to pick out the Australian girl. I quickly became someone foreign and I started to stutter a little. In Newcastle, we had that real ocker slang back then. When we arrived in England his family were lovely, just like him. They couldn’t do enough for this 17-year-old kid.

We travelled the country for 7 months with John’s work. He earned good money and we just blew it. We had a great honeymoon though and arrived back in Sydney when the Queen arrived in 1954. We were walking down the street and there she was with the Duke. She was so tiny. I always thought she was a busty woman but she was so petite.

They kept John’s job in Singleton. He was the Engineer. I met lots of interesting people in the Barracks there but I didn’t want to stay in that town. Anyway, there was a job going in Bukit Besi the north of Malaya, almost into what was Siam then. It was an American Iron Ore mine with no road in, just a railway. John had to go 3 months before me so I spent my first wedding anniversary and my 21st alone. I then joined him and we had to be pulled across many rivers on punts to get there as there were no bridges.

I fell pregnant and all these American women told me I had to go to Kuala Lumpur to have my baby. We had no money and couldn’t go. There was an Indian woman in the mine. She was the only Surgeon for all the accidents on the mine and a Malay midwife for the local people. My daughter Mary was born in the mine in 3 hours with no complications luckily. John could see it was no place to raise our baby so he went to Singapore and KL to see if there were any jobs and there were loads. We spent time moving back and forward between both places with his work.

John became a Spare Parts Manager during that time and one of his colleagues wanted him to leave and move to an American Company he worked at. By this stage, Janet, our second daughter, had come along. She was born in KL in the year Malay got their independence. John did go to the American company and they made him the Manager of the whole of East Asia because he was so knowledgeable, likeable and personable. He was very successful in his work. John was in Belgium learning the trade and as soon as we got back together again we got pregnant with Richard who was born in 1963.

Singapore had riots at the time and while I was in England they moved all our belongings to Hong Kong without me being able to go back there. My dog was given to someone too. Hong Kong was beautiful back then before tourism. There were no tall buildings and the people were lovely. Our daughter Mary was diagnosed with a brain tumour which they found out was benign after operating. They had no scans back then and it was an awful procedure but so grateful it was benign. That event really unsettled me.

We got a transfer to Belgium where there was really no English spoken at the time. We got by learning a bit of French. We were there from 1969 to 1973 and then John was transferred to Northern Europe. I’d never been educated but John was away so much, Mary was Nursing, Janet was working and I only had Richard at home so thought I’d better get a job. Janet talked me into working as a car hire Receptionist. I had a clever boss who taught me so much about commerce and customer service. John was a teacher also because I watched how he operated. I was very successful and ended up managing a branch. There were 8 branches around London. We were Ford distributors. I was earning good money and I loved my job but John wanted to buy a business.

John bought a village shop in the back of Suffolk, where he was born and I’ve never worked so hard in all my life. It was a filthy place when we moved in. There were dog bones, maggots and it stank. You couldn’t see out the windows.

We worked 7 days a week, petrol, spare parts, grog, toys, food and he added a Post Office. We had a loan to buy the business so we sold the spare parts and petrol and got rid of the loan.

Behind us was an Englishman who loved Soccer. He was a very wealthy man who imported John Deere products and had farms. This man used to get blue seats at the soccer and once he flew us both to Amsterdam to watch a game. He also had an indoor swimming pool. I had taught swimming in Singapore and Hong Kong so I said if you let me teach my grandchildren in your pool I will teach your grandchildren too. Mary had 2 children at this stage and had bought a burnt-out house in the same village. She was nursing at night and living in a caravan while Stephen did the house up.

One day John said…get your glad rags on. We had both seen a newspaper clipping of a Post Office for sale in Orford. It was an idyllic fishing village with the oldest pub, the oldest church, a castle, people went there just to eat the seafood.

Off we went and the building was a beautiful old building with thick walls and a walled-in garden of roses. Down the alleyway next to us was a large hall and a big beautiful community garden for all the terraced houses around. We went back and bought the Post Office and sold our shop to the first person who came. We doubled what we paid for it just by cleaning it and adding the Post office. It was wonderful.

I only had to go in one day a week. I had been upholstering too at this stage. I’ve been learning all my life after the lack of learning. I’m a perpetual student and I started upholstering for the local people. I upholstered a chair for a High Court Judge who wanted me to go to London to upholster his sofa.

One cold day we were sitting looking out the window and John at 63 said…let’s retire to Australia. It was 1988 and here in Australia at the time interest rates were 17%. We had enough money to buy a house and invest some so for 3 years I couldn’t buy shoes or go shopping. John had pensions with all the companies he’d worked for. We decided to do trips around Australia while we were still both here.

We were living in Lismore and one day there was a Koala in the backyard. Janet was coming from England to marry an Australian in our lounge-room. There was a shop in town called The Big Scrub so I went and asked what trees I needed to plant. There was a meeting that week with National Parks and a lady from the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie.

Off we went and by the end of the night, we were collared by National Parks because we were retired. I met Ruth Barrett and her family and National Parks asked if they could train us to care for Koalas. My husband ended up as the Treasurer, a carer, the works manager and a leaf collector. John and I were the Rescuers.

Professor Peter Baverstock at Southern Cross Uni at the time got involved. We could plant trees on his property near Tucki Tucki. He also instigated the Uni giving us land. John and I had planned another trip but by this stage we had Koalas everywhere, babies in the laundry, one in the back bedroom, in the trees around the pool and so on.

I became the fundraiser. Everyone we asked helped to build the Friends of the Koala building and hospital. Hurfords donated the roof, the Uni and Council gave us the land. We had a visit from an MP called George Souris who came to see what we were doing. He came home for a coffee. At that time we had a very small number of volunteers, no money for medicines so we had to earn that and pay for our own petrol. We raised half the amount needed for the building. When Souris left he called me to say we had the other half so the building commenced.

Bert Berryman an old local farmer was our President so he knew Hurfords and others were willing to help. My son-in-law did all the plumbing for free. In between we were travelling the coast to seminars, learning the whole time. John Williamson came to see it and he was performing in Lismore that night. He said we could have buckets at the venue door and we raised $8,000.

At the time, the Northern Star was vibrant and they helped out with media releases. The plaque on the wall was done by one of our member's wives who does headstones for the cemetery. Everything was given. Lorraine Vass and Rick came to town and she was the perfect person to take over. I said to Ruth, this is the perfect time for us to step back.

We had Geoff Tomkins as President which gave it kudos. His reputation is so good. Lorraine agreed to be President as we were pretty worn out by this time and my daughter Mary had a scuba diving accident. Mary had 35 operations throughout those years. She’s up doing Tai Chi today. There is no one stronger than this girl.

Due to the bushfires, the World Wildlife Fund funded a Vet and a Vet Nurse now plus 3 vehicles. Now they are employing someone to make a film about how we started They interviewed Ruth and I and there was Geoff who’d moved out of town. He’s such a cuddly, loveable man. He and John used to do everything together. John would take the Koalas and he’d get John in the theatre to help him with the operation.

One day Rolf Harris came to do a doco and John was with him the whole time but then Rolf was done for pedophilia and it was devastating that this charming man could interfere with a child. He had a family of his own. What makes these people do such things?

I played Golf and then I started Tai Chi here in Goonellabah which I’ve been doing for 10 years now. I was diagnosed a year ago with lung cancer. My GP sent me to a lung specialist in Lismore. He had me have a breath test. He told me to throw my puffers away. Tai Chi teaches us to breathe properly too.

That specialist sent me to Dr James Bull the Oncologist here. I said I’m 88 and I don't want chemo. I’ve had a great life so I’m happy to go. He told me about Immunology which has worked for so many people. I started the treatment at St Vincent's for half an hour with an infusion which gets your immune system pumping. By the second treatment, my limbs were hurting. I was struggling to get up so I pulled the plug on it. They gave me the scan with the dye and that treatment had reduced my tumour from a golf ball to a thumbnail. My friend only got tired with the same treatment so it affects people differently.

My brother, Ashley Grainger was the reason we came to Lismore with the swimming. I started to swim and I was fitter than people my age. It was a challenge. I was 60 when I started again and I was still competing till last year. Covid stopped us from crossing the border to Southport for the National Championships. I’m still a Champion at 88.

This year has been tough because I’ve been unwell and because of Covid. I have lots of trophies (laughs).

I think I’ve stayed fit and happy because I don’t have anyone horrible in my life. Starting with nothing, you appreciate all that you have. Don't spend time bitching about something you can’t fix and I feel that I have succeeded in passing that on to my children. My son was a Policeman in England and married a Policewoman. They followed us back to Australia too and I have the perfect relationship with her. We are very close. I have 8 Grandchildren and 6 Great Grandchildren and one baby about to arrive.

I went back for a checkup last week and my tumour has shrunk further without treatment so my plan now is for 2 years instead of 6 months. I’m not afraid of death and I think that’s because I’m living the life I’m living. You see people like Dylan Alcott who just won Australian of the Year and he’s in a wheelchair. You see what people make of their lives if they’re dealt a hard blow and those that don’t. Look how happy he is. You’ve got to go out there and get it.

My Mum died at 63 from Bowel cancer. I lost a brother to Bowel cancer and when I came home here, we both got tested and I had polyps so I was lucky I did that test.

John was 92 when he died. That was 3 years ago. When he died I wanted to get rid of all his things as I just wanted memories. I had all these gorgeous boys in the family so I got them all here one day before his funeral. I always dressed John nicely as he didn’t shop for himself. All the boys took something, a shirt, some shoes, they all took something and they all wore those things to his funeral. That’s what you want, not sadness but a celebration that you had the privilege of him being your Grandad or father in law.

We were married for 63 years and we were still in love. When Mary had the brain tumour and John was in Bangkok, I couldn’t talk to him as there were no phones and I was so worried how I was going to tell him in the morning when he got off the plane. It occurred to me that day that I was more worried about his reaction than the fact I had to give him that news, that I was trying to protect him. I think that’s what we both had, a love for the other greater than yourself.”