Long-time Lismore resident John Jessup passed away recently. John was strongly involved in the local theatre, Community Gardens and the groups for the disadvantaged. His good friend, Steve O'Connor, has adapted the eulogy he read at his funeral to tell the story of a unique man who lived a full life.John Jessup lived for many years in Showview Street above the golf course but below the water tank on the hill.  He was, in his own estimation, an escapee from the inner suburbs of Sydney. He had left the city on his own terms, as it is difficult for a man who was almost blind to survive, let alone thrive there. John was a sometimes larger-than-life character. For the times I travelled, or camped or just visited with John he could be described as being a life force. John tried to convince his camping mates once that by wearing his Flying Jacket, he could span swollen creeks in a single bound.  With a run-up longer than Mitchell Starc, he arrived at the cobbled stone edge of the stream, seeking to fly further than ever before. The mortal frame creaked a little, leapt into the cold air, but collapsed naturally short of the further shore, sort of bouncing out of the frigid stream onto the shore.  (John, Milly and Rhys on another creek walk)A blind man has to be audacious to be ordinary. There were other episodes of the Flying Jacket!!  I was never sure whether he actually believed he could fly further or that it was pure hubris. John however, just did not give up or analyse this facet for long. He never sought pity or advantage for his lack of sight.  It was, however, heroic to engage in John’s constant search for his glasses!He gained the moniker of Doctor or Professor for the ideas which he pursued. He advanced in the academic world but did not formally achieve a doctorate; but he richly deserved the accolade for his understanding of and commitment to the environment.  He was always simply known amongst his family and friends as JJ or Dr JJ. He just wanted to be seen as ordinary!John had a very fertile, informed and educated imagination. I can readily recall John rushing to my study desk in the ‘chocolate cake’ or the University Library during our studies and telling me of an author he had just discovered. Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan was indeed important in understanding how media was shaping our world and influencing the group we were involved with.He also created a catalogue of many of the most original of ideas.  During the drought in South Australia in the 1970s, he had the idea of towing a large iceberg from the Antarctic to South Australia. Why not?!  It would then be broken up for drinking water. Twenty years later, this idea was presented at an international conference, but the authors then unfortunately did not footnote John’s very seminal work!! Perhaps they did not know of his work.Early in his career, he applied for and was granted an interview to become a journalist with the ABC in the current affairs program PM. Quite a feat. He was asked in the process of the interview how he liked the program: he replied that he had not even listened to the program, while adding: I don’t even own a radio! John held strong views about the terror and evil of war. He became a conscientious objector, having to defend himself and his views in a court of law.  John’s pacifist views won the day, and he was released from army service. It was typical of John’s gentle yet intellectual approach to life. He cared for life, people and animals. He especially had a very strong sense of justice and what is right and wrong. This guided his actions and engagements all of his life.Backtracking a little in John’s life, we are reminded of the absolutely traumatic event in which he had a burst tumour on his pituitary gland and lost his eyesight completely. After a little while, he got back around 20% of his sight in the left eye. But that was all. This was especially poignant when one remembers that this happened in 1984. Oh well, he said: I will just have to pretend that I am fully sighted.  And he did this for over 40 years, without complaint. Most of the people with whom he came into contact were none the wiser.  He showed a huge amount of character managing a large house, planting a veritable forest in his suburban backyard and with his brother Paul, sharing ownership and custodianship of 250 acres of rain forest called Boundary.(Steve, John and Paul at the chook pen)He not only spoke the talk but worked hard planting trees and weeding out lantana to create a healthier bush. He helped plant 800 trees for koalas in Rock Valley.He used to ride around Lismore on a push bike, but then he acquired a battery-powered bike. It was feared that he was a disaster waiting to happen, especially with speed and an inability to see vehicles coming out of the right quarter. But he rode with care and responsibility. After all, it was John’s independence, and that was very important. His unique eyesight needs necessitated his own invention of two or even three glasses held inside each other to increase the magnification. Looked awkward but was largely effective. At least he entertained and assured us of this.In all of these matters, he did not give up. He invented devices to sit on the bike to ward off the rain and even to secure his belongings.  Paul did not remember him ever giving up.  In fact, he thought that this determined independence kept John alive and thriving in his sparse world.John was active in a range of social and environmental issues in Lismore. John was a Foundation and active member of the Lismore Community Gardens. His eyesight caused some consternation in the gardens as he would often fail to identify the weeds and good plants.  He was an appointed member of the Lismore Council's Disabilities Committee, offering experienced advice from an affected member of our community while also being a Lifeline volunteer Counsellor. He was engaged and then widely known in the community with reasoned opinions on this issue or that.   He frequently wrote Letters to the Editor in the Lismore Echo and was well known as a result of this. He planned books, and gave talks in the Lismore Living/Human Library. He was a local ‘celebrity’.  Lismore gave John opportunity and a welcome, he gave back so much to so many aspects of this community.John enjoyed his life despite the many hardships it delivered to his path; he didn’t just endure them, he was a good thespian both in life and on the stage; he was a good traveller and regarded himself as a Great Navigator, which might have been a little misleading, requiring a blind faith!  He was engaged in the musical theatre with the Paradiso Choir for over 15 years.  It was singing, theatre, fun and engaging John in performances completely at New Italy, Bangalow Markets and Australia Day, to name a few.John lost his son, Marcus, to mental illness. This loss was so hard to accept for the whole family. In his healing, he engaged in helping so many young people in many simple gestures of support and encouragement.          How can a life force like JJ cease? The universe is creaking, groaning ; Gaia even has developed uncertainty, and the iceberg being towed to South Australia has melted. The old hat and boots will wither out in the bush at Boundary but his warm smile, his kind heart with his vigorous handshake and hug will not. We should all be sustained by this memory, by the love and intense independence of this man, this ‘Professor’ JE Jessup. John always came alive in the bush and scrub of Rock Valley, but especially Boundary.  He would don his uniform of an old, old hat and boots, then just plough into the bush.  I must say that this was far more appropriate than the Hush Puppies he wore in the slush and mud of Cradle Mountain years before. These desert boots were immediately sucked off his feet, much to the mirth of his fellow travellers and annoyance of the Park Rangers.His brother Paul says that John had only known how to fight or resist, as if it were a normal state of being. But John was not normal. He was extraordinary. He is now, however, rather tired of fighting. The fight has seeped away. He wants to rest. (John, Ethan and Rhys at the beach)He cannot see the whales from the headland; he cannot care for and grow the trees; he can only thank his family for loving him all of these years. John’s ‘vision’ has always been different to the fully sighted. We wonder what he sees now, other than his family, the chance to rest and to reunite with his son Marcus. John passed on November 19, 2025.The famous Tasmanian poet James McAuley wrote just before his death:  Fully tested, I’ve been found/ Fit to join the underground  …….  The winter will be long and cold before the wattle turns to gold.[1][1] These lines are from McAuley’s last poem, ‘Explicit’.

When the Lismore App sat down with long-time agent Glenn Weir, the conversation moved quickly through decades of local history - from the early days of Keen Street’s poultry auctions to the present-day action of Lismore Saleyards. What emerged was the story of a business woven into the agricultural life of our region, a name that locals know, trust and recognise without ever needing it explained.The Roots of a Local LegacyThe foundations of Ian Weir & Son Pty Ltd were laid long before the company officially launched in July 1986. Glenn’s connection to the industry stretched back to his school days.“I worked for Keith McLeay from school. I was 16. I worked there for 10 years,” he said. “So I was 26 in 1986.” “Dad worked for McLeay too, he started there as a young bloke, same path as me.”(1969 edition of the iconic Keith McLeay calendars)“The Keith McLeay business was well known in the Lismore district for cattle sales, poultry auctions, and the now famous monthly furniture and machinery auctions at the Lismore Showground and Alstonville Church Hall.”“Many people who grew up in the 60s and 70s would remember the cattle market report on 2LM radio of a Saturday morning. The finishing line was always: when consigning your cattle for sale, be sure they are for Keith McLeay.”When Keith McLeay Pty Ltd was purchased in 1986, a new chapter began. Ian Weir, Glenn, Kevin Cocciola and Neil Short stepped forward as partners under a new name - Ian Weir & Son Pty Ltd.“Back in 1986, Dad, myself, Kevin and Neil bought what was a long-established business in Keith McLeay Pty Ltd,” Glenn recalled. “That’s when Ian Weir & Son started.”From its first day, the business reflected the energy of the livestock industry of that era. There were pig and calf sales on Tuesdays, the Eltham calf sale on Wednesdays, and the weekly Lismore cattle sale on Thursdays.“There wasn’t many Saturdays where we didn’t have an auction of some sort,” Glenn said. “Maybe an estate sale of furniture or a cleaning sale of farm equipment and cattle. No job was too big or too small. “Auctions were more of a community service than a money-spinner,” he said. “We did it because people needed it done.”“You didn’t get many Saturdays off back then,” he added. “We sold whatever came through the gate.”(Kevin Cocciola doing what he does best at Lismore Saleyards - on the microphone!)“You rode out the tough times and made up for it in the good ones,” Glenn said.“Neil was also kept busy selling real estate, and his wife Jenny who is Ian’s daughter always did a great job on the books.”Expanding a Trusted NameGrowth came quickly. In September 1991, the business expanded through the purchase of Gil Crawford & Co, bringing well-known agent Dick Osborne into the team, a member who remains with the firm 30 years later. Another respected salesman, Paul Armour, helped drive the real estate side for almost two decades.Further growth followed in November 2003, when the company purchased another rival agency, Walker Gordon, which had operated for more than 75 years.“That was a big step,” Glenn said. “You don’t buy a business like that lightly. It gave us more presence, more people, and more strength.”Ian Weir was tragically killed in a car accident in 2009, leaving Glenn, Kevin and Neil to run the business. Over time, the next generation began stepping in.“Mark Noble, Luke Allen and Mitch Dundas have since joined the team, bringing youth to our business and complementing the many years of experience held by the founders,” Glenn said.(More recent photo of the team from Ian Weir & Son)“It’s good to see young fellas coming through - you need them if you want the name to live on.”“Looking back after almost 50 years in the agency industry it’s pleasing to see many of our clients are still with us albeit this may be the second and third generation we are acting for.”An Industry in TransitionPart of the significance of the Ian Weir & Son story lies in its longevity through major agricultural change. Glenn saw it firsthand.“When I started in 1976, there were seven livestock agencies in Lismore,” he said. “Now there is only one.”The 1960s and 70s were built on mixed farming, cream to the factory, skim milk to the pigs, vegetables, fruit, cattle. Farms were diverse and busy. Macadamias surged in the 70s. Tea tree expanded. “You only have to drive around the local district now to see a lot more horticulture. Macadamia nuts, sugar cane, soya beans, tea tree, as well as houses, and a lot of country now under bush and weeds.”Sale days were community days. Farmers dropped their wives in town, watched cattle sell, then met back at the truck. It was rhythm, routine, and a weekly reunion of faces. “Back in the early 70s, Lismore was the big hub, before the Square was built,” Glenn said. “People would come from Ballina, Bangalow, Mullumbimby to shop here.”“The introduction of liveweight selling when scales were put in place in 1981 took a lot of the guesswork out of cattle buying,” Glenn said. “Farmers got paid for what the cattle weighed. It was a fairer system.”“Computers, love them or hate them, changed how business operates.” Through all change, the business continued to sell 15,000 to 20,000 cattle annually.“You don’t keep numbers like that without doing something right,” he said.From 1991 onward, the business operated from Woodlark Street, flooded only twice: 2017 and 2022. The 2022 flood closed the saleyards for 14 months.“Producers could send their cattle to Casino, but the question was always asked: ‘When are Lismore saleyards reopening?’” Glenn said.When they returned, it wasn’t just transactions resuming, it was a heartbeat.“It was good to hear cattle through the ring again,” Glenn said. “Good to see people leaning on the rails. It felt like things were moving again.”A New Era With a Familiar NameAfter nearly forty years, the business has now entered its next chapter through its sale to George & Fuhrmann.“It was yes one day and no the next,” Glenn said. “It took us months. But Dad always said you never knock back a good offer, because you never know when the next one might come along.”What mattered most was the people behind the name.“We wouldn’t have considered selling if they weren’t going to employ our young blokes or keep the team together,” Glenn said. “They told us everything would stay the same, that was very important.”“The saleyards are known as Ian Weir & Son Lismore Saleyards. That will remain,” he said. “We’ll operate as George & Fuhrmann incorporating Ian Weir. People can identify with that name. It still means something.”From its modest launch in 1986 to its expansions in 1991 and 2003, through changing markets, floods, growth and the passing of generations, Ian Weir & Son has remained a constant in the Northern Rivers story.“We’ve seen a lot of changes,” he said. “But we’re still here, and the name’s still here. That means something.”

Lorraine Vass has experienced a richly varied and interesting working life as a librarian, and even more eventful and fulfilling years of “retirement” as an advocate for koala conservation and preservation. She made time this week to speak to Darlene Cook about her life’s journey.I was born a “war baby” in 1944, the eldest of three girls. There’s only 32 months between us.  Growing up, I realised that I was very fortunate that my father worked in a protected industry, at the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Fisherman’s Bend in Melbourne, and hence did not serve in the military during WW2. Interestingly, my husband Rick’s father didn’t go to war either; he was in the wool industry, and that was also protected. My maiden name was Leunig, and people have asked me many times over the years whether my family is related to the cartoonist Michael Leunig. He’s actually a very distant relative; only one family of Leunigs settled in Australia, originally in South Australia. Some stayed there, others moved to Western Australia and to Victoria. When my mother was widowed, she was the only ML Leunig in the Melbourne phone book and was forever getting phone calls for either Michael or Mary. It drove her crazy!I was brought up in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, attending South Caulfield Training School (meaning student teachers did their practicums there), going on to Gardenvale Central School and then a selective girls' school, MacRobertson Girls' High School. I matriculated in 1961 and was accepted by Monash Uni, which opened in 1962.(MacRobertson Girls' High School in 1958. Lorraine is 2nd from the left in the 2nd back row)I chose instead to train as a librarian at the State Library of Victoria. I’d known I wanted to be a librarian since 4th Grade. I completed the first section, known as the Preliminary Certificate and then decided to have some time out. While I was studying, I was working as a library assistant at the Moorabbin Free Library in Bentleigh.Indeed, that’s where I met Rick, who at the time worked in the Bentleigh Branch of United Insurance, just around the corner from the library. I think he came in for a book on letter writing, and one thing led to another. Being on library desk is a great way to meet people. We married in late July 1966, sailing to the UK 8 days later on a Greek ‘migrant ship’, RHMS Ellinis. Post-war immigration was still in full swing – migrants in; young Aussies out - let loose to explore the world! The voyage from Melbourne to Southampton took 5 weeks with stops in Sydney, Wellington, Papeete, Panama City, and Curacao in the Caribbean.(Lorraine and Rick in Tahiti in 1966)I worked at the Institute of Education libraries at the University of London as a library assistant, and Rick worked for an insurance broker in the City. In mid-1967, we bought an old Kombi and started planning our first travels into Europe and North Africa. We were away for about 5 months. On our return to London, we both more or less picked up where we had left off. The Institute, in particular, was very accommodating to us colonials.London was an eye-opener. Apart from anything else, it was only 20 years after the war and in many ways still recovering – vacant blocks from the bombing; constant visual reminiscences of the war. My first job at the Institute was running a clearing house for literature on community development. It and the main library were still housed in a Nissan hut! I love seeing photos of European cities today, all clean and spruced up. So many, when we saw them, were dark, run down and somewhat grimy, suffering from the austerity of post-war years. The old buildings were magnificent, but the war had taken its toll, and those places hadn’t had the time to recover.  We spent 3½ years in the UK, North Africa and Europe and then a further 8 months driving home. We weren’t hippies, even though our itineraries covered many of the same places as those who travelled “the hippy trail”. (January 1968 at the Camel Market in Goulimine, something of a desert outpost in the south of Morocco, known for its market and the nomadic Berbers (Blue Men) who trade their camels)The Institute was extremely cosmopolitan, and when we decided to drive home overland (nothing was impossible for us), I was showered with the contact details of people to look up along the way. We started off in Scandinavia, then the parts of Central Europe outside the Eastern Bloc, and on to Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, India, Malaysia, and finally to Singapore. It had been an exhilarating but tiring journey, punctuated by poste restante and bank draft dramas (no credit cards in those days), engine problems and the most delightful hospitality.We had booked our passage on the MV Centaur from Singapore to Fremantle before leaving London, as it accommodated both passengers and cargo. The idea was that after a short stay in Perth, we would drive home to Melbourne, but the engine blew up about 100 kms out of Perth. We were towed back, staying with some English boys we had met months before, to earn money to fix the car. But at the same time, my poor, not-so-old Dad had suffered a heart attack and was in hospital. Mum sent the police looking for us around Ceduna, where she expected us to be, but of course, we were back in Perth. We were eventually found and flew back to Melbourne in time to see Dad in Prince Henry Hospital before he died.We lived with Mum for nearly a year while we adjusted to being back in Australia. I had joined the Education Department of Victoria, completed my library qualification and an 8-week teacher training course, becoming a teacher-librarian in the Department’s Technical Division. By that time, late 1970, Rick and I bought our first home – a 16½ foot wide terrace, in West Melbourne.I enjoyed my work and building, somewhat haphazardly, a career in librarianship. Having started in public libraries, then an academic library in the UK,  four years in school librarianship was an interesting and useful foray. From there, I went to the Giblin Library which served the Faculty of Economics at the University of Melbourne as Acting Librarian and then to the Footscray Institute of Technology as a Reference Librarian.  When we decided to come up here to the North Coast, I went back into public libraries. My youngest sister, Jenn, had come up for the Aquarius festival in 1973 and stayed on in the Tweed Valley. She and Mum bought the general store at Kunghur, past Uki on the Murwillumbah to Kyogle Road, a few miles before the turnoff to Nimbin.We spent our 1973-74 summer holidays with them in Kunghur, exploring the area. Rick drove the car back to Melbourne in early January, but I was on school holidays so stayed longer, catching the train from Murwillumbah to Melbourne at the end of January, not long before the big 1974 flood. We were enjoying Melbourne, but also quite intrigued about this beautiful and interesting part of the world. Over time, we discussed the pros and cons of moving (we were still renovating the 1883 terrace). Change was in the air, and we eventually agreed whoever got the first job offer, the other would follow. Rick won! A vacancy came up at the Coffs Harbour branch of the insurance company he was working for. He moved up; I finished the term at FIT, packed up the house and rented it out.We arrived in Coffs in 1976 and stayed until 1985. It took me a while to find work, and when I did, it was as a casual, contracted cataloguer with the Clarence Regional Library in Grafton. I commuted for about four months in early 1977 when the position of Branch Librarian at Coffs Harbour was advertised. Coffs was growing, and the position had been upgraded. I applied and was successful.(1978, when Lorraine was a Coffs Harbour Branch Librarian, promoting the introduction into the Clarence Regional Library of Heara Books for the visually impaired)  It was an amazing time to be working in Coffs. The town was on the move, open to new ideas and services. The library was well patronised and we were supported generously in the local media. I even had a spot on the locally-produced Get Set – the Wayne Magee Show on 11-8 Television to promote what was going on in the library. We made a 7-minute doco titled Wayne goes to the library, which won a national libraries public relations award in 1979.I was involved in numerous organisations in Coffs, two of the most enjoyable being the Neighbourhood Centre and the Arts Council. A very personal achievement was helping to bring the Sydney Film Festival’s Travelling Film Festival to the Sawtell picture theatre. Lismore was the closest location for the TFF at the time. Rick and I had built a house at North Sapphire, looking out over the South Solitaries. We had a boat too, as Rick loved sailing, and we were getting back to some overseas travel. Then, in early 1983, I was appointed Clarence Regional Librarian. The upside was the wider regional canvas, managing branches as far south as Macksville up to Iluka in the north.There was also the development of the Northern NSW Libraries Federation, a consortium comprising the Richmond-Tweed, Clarence and Namoi regional libraries and the Northern Rivers CAE library, formed to introduce a single catalogue for those libraries, thus facilitating inter-library lending across north-eastern NSW.  Exciting stuff at the time, although looking back, incredibly clumsy, moving first to microfiche and then to a primitive computerisation system.  While I enjoyed the position’s challenges, the resumption of commuting to Grafton was a trial, and I only stuck it out for a couple of years. We had both been visiting Sydney for work-related purposes; occasionally together, and we enjoyed it. So different to Melbourne. We started talking about returning to city life.    A friend lived in Lane Cove, so we sort of knew that lower north shore area and when the Council advertised for a Chief Librarian and Information Co-ordinator, I applied.  We lived in a flat until we decided to sell the Sapphire house and buy in Greenwich. The house was a box on steel legs: a Lendlease Beachcomber, Mark II, I think, sited on a battle axe block.  No views at all, but interesting. Today, Beachcombers enjoy something of a cult status.Moving to a well-resourced metropolitan library service valued by councillors and residents was a huge change. The Shorelink Libraries Network, which linked the libraries of Lane Cove, Willoughby, North Sydney, Mosman and Manly, was the largest public library network in NSW at the time, providing over 100 terminals to its online public access catalogue. The single catalogue and the libraries’ close proximity to each other meant that a Shorelink user had ready access to 600,000 books and other items. But living in Sydney was different to visiting Sydney, and the novelty didn’t take long to wear off. In 1989, I went to a library conference in Darwin, which had an exotic appeal. Rick wasn’t too surprised when, a few weeks later, I clipped an ad for a position with the Northern Territory Library Service. I was interviewed by phone - my first ever telephone interview, and it went well.So, we packed up yet again for another move, thankfully paid for by the Territory government. We spent 10 years in Darwin and really loved it. My job as User Services Librarian was to manage the development of the Territory’s public libraries, school libraries and community libraries, the latter being joint-use facilities usually in remote areas, often in Aboriginal communities, serving schools and the public. The Northern Territory Library Service was established in 1980. It was new and innovative, and when I arrived, sat in the Department of Education. Service provision to remote communities was a particular focus, hence the joint-use model supported by the schools’ staffing establishments, including a teacher-librarian capable of training Aboriginal assistants. (Lorraine's permit to work in Aboriginal areas. Libraries sat within the Department of Education when she was appointed in 1989, but moved to the Department of Housing & Local Government in 1992, necessitating new permits.The first of these libraries had opened in Barunga in 1982 and more quickly followed. The system worked well however through the 1990s teacher-librarians lost their establishment status and sustaining the model became more challenging. Government services generally were being cut back then.It had taken Rick a while to find work in Darwin, and when he did, it was in tourism, tour-guiding. Eventually, we established a small tour business operating across the Top End.  We were interested in Aboriginal culture, including rock art and managed to explore a lot of it in the NT and the Kimberley. Rick’s tour-guiding was a bonus. If I went out to communities, it was work and not much else; fly in, fly out. Light planes were the way you went. You might drive to Katherine in a government car, but everywhere else you flew. Rick’s tours were by road vehicle, although sometimes his clients might have arranged to fly back to Darwin, in which case I’d catch the flight out so we’d have some time together and then drive back together. We found the Territory’s climate difficult; enervating humidity with not much difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures for a lot of the year. While public buildings were air-conditioned, we mostly relied on overhead fans at home. We’d bought an old, flimsy ‘Government Grey’ which was probably built in the mid-‘60s and actually survived Cyclone Tracy. Elevated, it sat on concrete piers with banks of full-height louvres and fibro wall cladding – not the most elegant of the many types of housing characteristic of old Darwin, but we did it up, adding a couple of Troppo verandas and installing an air-conditioner in the bedroom. Finally, retirement, in fact, early retirement, courtesy of selling the Greenwich Beachcomber. My sister, Jenn, was now living in Lismore, which became our destination for sussing out our next move. We’d thought the Byron hinterland but quickly realised we wouldn’t have much to live on, so we started looking around Lismore.Before long, we found our ideal - a spacious house on three nicely treed acres at Wyrallah on Tregeagle Road. The previous owner told us about the koalas that had been moving through the property in recent years (he had planted koala trees 10 years before) and mentioned a mob in town called Friends of the Koala (FOK), who were the people to see about koalas and local wildlife.We moved in the week before Christmas 1999, surrounded by boxes and furniture that had been in storage on the Gold Coast. All of that was overshadowed by the news that I had won two tickets to the Sunrise Breakfast by the Lighthouse at Cape Byron, where we saw in the new millennium. Life in Lismore had started off on a great note! Once settled, I looked around for voluntary work (Rick had joined the Golf Club) and found it at the Lismore Regional Art Gallery, working first with Director, Irena Dobrijevich, as her PA. I enjoyed learning how an art gallery actually worked and meeting the gallery cohort. The Trench Building was clearly not fit for purpose, and the push was on for more space, even back then.I forget how long I actually volunteered at the Gallery, but I know I continued to have some involvement up to when Steve Alderton came on board as Director in 2005. The change in focus was down to koalas and Friends of the Koala. We had joined FOK back in early 2000, receiving a welcoming handwritten letter from Secretary John Hyde. At that time, their AGM was held in April or May, and we decided to attend. Hilariously, we were the only strangers in the room. The group loved Rick because he was a big, strong outdoorsy man who would make a great rescuer. They suggested I might like to shadow a carer at the Care Centre in preparation for taking on a shift or two. Rick quickly picked up rescuing and became interested in learning to care for joeys. He joined the Committee almost straight away. I wasn’t all that keen on becoming a carer; however, the newsletter had fallen into a bit of a hole, so I offered to help out and started attending Committee meetings, which were held in the early evening. The President, Geoff Tompkin, was finding it hard to attend meetings due to work commitments as a veterinarian, so after a while, I asked if he would object if I stood for President. He responded positively, and so I stood at the 2002 AGM and was elected, remaining President for 15 years. (Lorraine addressing a rally in March 2014 held outside Don Page's office in Ballina, objecting to the preferred route of section 10 of the Pacific Highway upgrade - the Save Ballina's Koalas campaign.)In FOK’s early days, there had been several chapters throughout the region, but by the time we arrived, the active membership had shrunk somewhat. I think building the Care Centre in Rifle Range Road and changing from home-care to a more centralised care model had exhausted the founding committee, and the organisation was in a bit of a lull.  There were plenty of issues needing attention. The realignment of Skyline Road through primary koala habitat was a big one, as was Lismore Council’s tedious grappling with drafting a Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management (CKPoM). But apart from the advocacy, there was the need to recruit and train the rescuers, carers, leaf collectors, and everyone else needed to deal with our licensed work for the NSW Government, which was to rescue, care and release, where possible, injured, sick and orphaned koalas back into the wild. We also needed a bit of organisational capacity-building.  FOK has certainly grown and expanded on the original founders’ vision and keeps on evolving. It’s a very different organisation today compared with what it was when I stepped down as President in 2017. FOK now operates a respected hospital and is a valued research partner. It has several salaried positions and a dynamic social media presence with worldwide reach.In my day, we were all volunteers seeking ways to add value to our work, developing a steady income stream, engaging the broader public and being a strong regional voice for koala recovery. We had a lot of help from the links we forged with the local media: print, radio and TV. Our location close to Southern Cross Uni was also helpful, leading to several useful collaborations over the years. In the very early days, building networks was crucial. Logically, we thought Sydney’s universities were a good starting point, but in the end, Queensland’s universities and their researchers were more helpful to us. For example, FOK is a foundation partner in the development of the chlamydia vaccine, which has recently been approved for use by the regulator. It’s been a long road - we started talking to Prof. Timms in 2005. We were also fortunate that the Environmental Defenders Office opened its only regional branch in Lismore in conjunction with the Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre. Having accessible, professional legal advice was priceless, and we learned a lot about planning and environmental law as well as evidence-based submission writing.  In my view, the one thing that has really reinforced FOK’s regional presence has been the opportunity to work with the four of our local Councils, which have developed and implemented CKPoMs over the past 15 years. FOK is a community-based organisation. While it rightly views itself as a regional organisation, stretching from the Queensland border southwards almost to Iluka and westward beyond the Clarence, working with Lismore, Tweed, Byron and Ballina councils on their Plans has given the organisation credibility in all levels of government that it is a legitimate partner in landscape-scale koala recovery and conservation across the Northern Rivers. This, in turn, has led to considerable government investment over the years and a healthy appetite for on-ground and research collaboration across the region.My volunteering in FOK has served me well. Sure, it was a 24-hour commitment for years on end, but it gave me incredible satisfaction and the opportunity to meet and work with so many amazing people. What’s more, it has broadened my horizons, and I continue learning so much. It’s also rewarded me. In 2018, the Wildlife Preservation Society of Australia, now known as the Australian Wildlife Society, awarded me the prestigious Serventy Conservation Award. Its purpose is to recognise and celebrate conservation work that has not been done as part of a professional paid career. FOK has a long relationship with the Society, having won the Award’s organisational category in 2007. I was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2021 Australia Day Honours List for significant service to wildlife conservation, particularly of the koala. I’ve received several local awards as well. (Lorraine was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2021 Australia Day honours for her significant service to wildlife conservation, particularly of the koala.)Koala survival is still in the balance. More than ever, koala conservation remains highly political because in so much of the koala’s remaining range, we humans are competing for space, and there is little political will to strengthen protection laws. The impacts of climate change on the species are already becoming apparent. Even the welcome announcement this month on the Great Koala National Park on the Mid North Coast has its limitations. We celebrate the immediate moratorium on logging – it’s a win, but ponder the uncertainty of a gazettal date. Ashley Love, who worked in National Parks, had the vision back in 2012, and its creation has been Labor policy since 2015. Still, these things take so long to be legislated.We understand there’s a timber industry and workers who need to be looked out for, but there have been opportunities for decades for timber companies to invest in plantations to sustain them into the future. The investment just hasn’t been viable or extensive. Besides, in Western Victoria, timber plantations were planted with species that koalas love. They are the only habitat outside of national parks, and koalas have colonised them. 25-30 years later, growers want to harvest trees and koalas are being maimed and killed in the process. There are no easy answers, and the campaigning must continue. Our local koalas also need safeguarding, and one of the ways this can be achieved is for the State forests in the southern Richmond River valley and along the Richmond Range to be part of a new national park proposal, the Richmond River Koala Parks. What’s in the future? Sadly, or thankfully, the passion doesn’t disappear. While I stepped down as FOK Patron and from the Northern Rivers Wildlife Hospital Board nearly 12 months ago, I still represent FOK on the Tweed Coast Koala Advisory Committee reviewing their CKPOM and on the NSW Wildlife Council. There are a few other things as well. The difference these days is I can pick and choose. Rick and I moved into town in late 2021, a few months before the floods. We’ve settled in well, even though Lismore isn’t the same now as it was when we arrived a quarter of a century ago.  Now, a few interests and activities have disappeared. Take Musica Viva - that’s vanished. Lismore used to be on the TFF circuit – that’s gone. The SCU presence seems to have diminished - events and speakers I remember from years ago, no longer. That’s not to say that town isn’t trying; maybe it’s a generational thing. We haven’t travelled overseas since before COVID and we’re not likely to due to Rick’s health. While there’s plenty of scope for inbound travel, doing it is another thing. Rick doesn’t like to plan too far into the future. We certainly don’t want to move again. Where we are adjoins a small forested reserve which gives us a feeling of privacy, space and above all, nature. The odd wallaby hops through, which we didn’t see much of at Wyrallah. Birds galore, reptiles, possums, echidnas, you name it. We saw a few koalas soon after we moved in, but not recently. We’re slowly working on the front and back gardens, and we have lovely neighbours. We’re happy here. That’s enough. 

Narelle Gleeson, Director of Nursing and Midwifery at Lismore Base Hospital, was recently awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her distinguished 50-year career as a Nurse, Midwife and Director of Nursing and Midwifery. She sat down this week with Darlene Cook to talk about her life, and the many changes she has seen in the nursing profession over those years.My mother was a nurse, and my father was a coal miner. They were born and lived in Wollongong most of their lives, with my father following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, who both were coal miners.I was born in Wollongong Hospital in October 1957, the eldest child in the family. A younger brother and sister came along a few years later.I attended primary and high school in the suburbs of Wollongong. I don’t remember that I ever wanted to do anything else but be a nurse; my mother influenced my decision to be a nurse, as did the school advisor following an aptitude test. My sister was also a nurse training at Marrickville Hospital in Sydney.When I think back, in the 1970’s the options for a young woman leaving school were somewhat limited. It’s very different now; there are so many more careers women can choose from. Having said that, if I had my time over, I would still choose nursing and midwifery as my career option. I can’t imagine doing anything else.I started my nursing career at 17 years of age, just over fifty years ago, on 3rd February 1975. The Hospital where I trained was Sydney Hospital, which is in Macquarie Street and is the oldest hospital in Australia. Sydney Hospital once included what is now Parliament House and the Mint. Sydney Hospital was known as Rum Hospital until 1881, as the convicts who built it were paid with rum.(Narelle as a young nurse in SydneyNSW politician, Henry Parkes, was concerned about the state of the hospital and appealed to Florence Nightingale for help to send trained nurses. Subsequently, in March 1868, Lucy Osburn was sent to Sydney as Lady Superintendent of the hospital. She was accompanied by five trained nurses, all with military experience.Lucy Osborne established the first school of nursing at Sydney Hospital and laid the foundation of modern nursing in Australia. The museum at Sydney Hospital. known as the Lucy Osborne – Nightingale Museum. portrays the history of nursing and medicine in Australia and is well worth a visit.During my training, I was sent to other hospitals to gain experience in specialised areas that were not provided at Sydney Hospital. These hospitals were Camperdown Children's Hospital, Gladesville Psychiatric Hospital and Crown Street Women’s Hospital.The nurses’ home where I lived was in Woolloomooloo, close to Kings Cross and the Garden Island Navy Base. I remember my mother being surprised at how close the nurses’ home was to Kings Cross. There was an immediate warning from her – “don’t you go there.” When I got to know some of the other nurses who had similar warnings from their parents, we went to the ‘Cross’, to find out what it was we weren’t supposed to be looking at. The Navy boys were often caught throwing stones at our room windows, hoping to find a nurse to go out with them. Very different from the dating Apps used today.When I finished my general training, I stayed on at Sydney Hospital for a few months, then went to Adelaide to work. From there, I did as so many of my generation did in the 1980’s, I headed off to the UK for 18 months and worked in several London Hospitals between travelling around the UK and Europe. When it was time to come home, I went back to Wollongong and moved home with my parents. It was then I decided to do my midwifery training.I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a midwife; however, once I started my training, I loved it and spent 20 years working as a midwife. During this period, I worked as a clinical midwife in the birthing unit, as a midwifery unit manager, then a senior manager in maternity services.During that time, I completed a Master’s in Health Policy and Management and then a Master’s in Business Administration at Wollongong University. While initially I felt a bit intimidated going to university at age 40, I soon learned that you are never too old to study, and I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent completing my degrees.((Narelle at her graduation at Wollongong University when she completed a Master of Business Administration)In 2002, I was asked to fill in as the Director of Nursing at Bulli Hospital. This experience reinvigorated my interest in general nursing, and I then went on to work at Port Kembla Hospital in a permanent Director of Nursing position. After 4 years working at Port Kembla Hospital, I decided to take leave without pay and take a Director of Nursing position in Saudi Arabia. I spent 16 months living and working there, it was a wonderful experience and one I will never forget.I look fondly on the time I spent in Saudi Arabia and how I grew personally and professionally from living in a culture so different from Australia. I was surprised, for example, to learn that women weren’t permitted to drive cars, or travel without permission from a male relative or work. The nurses working in the hospital came from all over the world; it was a huge expat community living in the residential compound.Saudi Arabia was starting to change some of the strict rules around women and had just begun training Saudi Arabian nurses. This came with some challenges, considering the rules around driving and travel. Thankfully, more changes have occurred since I left Saudi Arabia; today, women can drive, and work and do not need permission to travel from a male relative.Australia seemed to be such an exotic place for many of the nurses working there, and I was asked lots of questions about our country. Koalas, kangaroos, crocodiles, spiders and snakes sparked most of their interest. I was treated kindly and respectfully and was invited to attend Ramadan celebrations and lucky enough to attend one nurse's wedding. When I went on leave, I had many nurses escort me to the airport, and when I came back, there were nurses there to meet me, often with gifts and streamers. Not something that happens here, of course.Towards the end of my stay in Saudi Arabia I applied for a position back home as Director of Nursing, at Shellharbour Hospital – I was successful in gaining the position and I worked there for eight years. I moved to Lismore and the Base Hospital in 2013 which is truly one of the best decisions I have made.I decided to move to the North Coast because at that time my sons were both living in Brisbane. I did not look for a position in Brisbane because I wanted to remain in the NSW hospital system, where most of my hospital experiences had been.My eldest son is an army veteran, and the younger is a licensed refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic. While they were growing up, most of my work was an easy commute. By the time I went to Saudi Arabia, my sons were both young adults. I am immensely proud of the men they have become and love the time I get to spend with them. My sons have commented at different times that it wasn’t much fun having a mother who is a nurse. They remind me of the times when they tried to get time off school by telling me they were sick and did not get away with it, unlike some of their friends.(Narelle with her Lifetime Achievement Award)While working at Shellharbour and Kiama Hospitals (the hospitals were merged), I gained a great deal of experience providing care and services for complex aged care patients, and as a result, I am passionate about patient-centred care and preserving the dignity and well-being of elderly patients with complex needs.Recently, I found an article from a local newspaper that my mother had kept, where the nursing staff at Shellharbour and Kiama Hospital introduced a NSW Health project called Top 5 – it’s a simple tool that allows nurses to collect knowledge about the patient from their family or carer to assist with reducing anxiety of the patient during their hospital stay. We still use the Top 5 tool today.I have enjoyed every role I have worked in, which is now quite diverse. This is the beauty of the nursing and midwifery profession; there is so much variety in the clinical streams or services to choose from. Nurses and midwives are there at the beginning and end of someone’s life and all the other times in between when people need care and support for their health issues. This is a very privileged position to be in.Of course, there have been so many changes in the profession in the last 50 years as there have been in other careers. One of the biggest changes to the profession has been the move from hospital-based training to nurses having a tertiary qualification. By the mid-1980s, nursing diplomas were being provided by Colleges of Advanced Education, and by 1993, all registered nursing students in Australia entered the profession via a tertiary education pathway. Australian registered nurses are now required to complete a three-year bachelor’s degree or a postgraduate degree in nursing. Once, only a postgraduate degree, attaining a midwifery qualification could be gained without first completing a general nursing degree. Nurses can also be trained through the TAFE system as an Assistant in Nursing or an Enrolled Nurse.Many nurses choose this pathway into nursing before going on to complete a degree.Many of the roles available to nurses and midwives today were not available when I started in my career. The technical equipment that nurses utilise currently to provide care for their patients is extensive including documenting the care they provide to the patient in an electronic medical record rather than paper-based.So many aspects of the care provided to patients that we once relied on a doctor to do are now done by nurses; we now have clinical nurse/midwifery consultants, clinical nurse/midwifery specialists, and nurse practitioners.Changes in patient treatment have also been revolutionary. For example, my second rotation during my training was to the Sydney Eye Hospital in Woolloomooloo. Patients would have their cataract surgery and would have to remain in bed with sandbags either side of their head, eye pads on and in a dark room. They would be hospitalised for about 10 days. Today, patients spend only a few hours in hospital after their surgery. Many other surgical procedures have improved and have reduced the patient staying in hospital from what was a weeklong stay to day surgery, or a one-night hospital stay. The introduction of Hospital in the Home has also improved the patient experience by the patient being able to receive care in their own home from a professional clinical team.Similarly with maternity services, it is more relaxed, and women can be discharged if all is well four hours post birth, have the support people they want with them during the birth, and if the services are available, choose water or home births under the care of a trained midwife.The two greatest challenges I’ve faced in my fifty years of nursing were experienced here at Lismore Base Hospital. The biggest challenge was the COVID-19 pandemic. The courage of the nurses was inspiring during this time. I know other health professionals were involved in caring for patients with COVID as well, but as the Director of Nursing and Midwifery, I am, of course, biased, but the truth is the nursing staff were nothing less than brilliant during this time. They demonstrated compassion and commitment to their patients and their patients’ loved ones while safeguarding themselves.     Other countries were reporting stories about health workers becoming seriously ill or dying after being infected with the virus after caring for patients with COVID-19. It was a frightening time for us all. NSW Health and the Local Health District kept us all informed about COVID and the strategies being put in place to care for patients and minimise the risk of the transfer of the virus; staff were provided with the appropriate personal protective equipment and educated on how to use it.While COVID-19 is still with us, it is not as severe, and the number of people with it is reducing. More importantly, people are not getting as sick as they did when it first presented.The second greatest challenge I experienced were the 2022 floods. I was in awe of the many nurses and midwives who had property damage or were cut off by the water but still came to work. Many of our staff came to work in boats (tinnies) or canoes, or found a way around the flood via country roads to get to work. Most bought with them a change of uniforms as they knew if they got to the hospital, they would be there to stay until the water receded.Other nurses worked wherever they could get to – if they couldn’t get to the Base Hospital, they went to help at another hospital –e.g. Casino, Kyogle, Ballina and in the evacuation centres. Our staff would work double shifts if needed to care for the patients because there were nurses and midwives who could not get in to work. The Emergency Department was extremely busy during this time and provided patient-centred care for the patients and often their pet. I wondered what Florence Nightingale or Lucy Osbourne and her nurses would say about pets in the hospital and sometimes in the bed with the patients. For me, it was truly inspiring to see. I saw compassion in every staff member across the entire health workforce who worded during this time. There are so many wonderful stories to tell about our heroic health staff during the COVID-19 pandemic and the floods, perhaps stories for another day, so this period in our local health service history will not be forgotten.Outside of my hospital work, I am very involved with ZONTA, which is an international organisation with the mission of building a better world for women and girls in support of sustainable development. We believe in making the world a better place by empowering women, advocating for equality, education and an end to child marriage and gender-based violence.The Zonta Club of Northern Rivers has furnished a designated, private room at Lismore Base Hospital for women and their families experiencing stillbirth or miscarriage. This room, often referred to as the Zonta Room, provides a sanctuary for families to grieve and acknowledge their loss. Recently, several of the Northern Rivers ZONTA members worked with a local high school to make up birthing kits; these kits provide clean basic equipment for women in developing countries to birth their babies, thus reducing the risk of infection to them and their baby. In the past 2 years, 900 birthing kits have been assembled by the Northern Rivers ZONTA members with the assistance of students at a local school.I love working in my garden while walking and playing with my dog, Molly. I also love entertaining friends and family and travelling to new places and exploring the culture of the town, city or country I am in.What’s in the future for me? I am not sure. What I do know is that it is hard to think about retirement when I love the work I do and the people I work with.If I could give one piece of advice, if you are wondering about what to do as a career or thinking about changing your career, consider being a nurse or a midwife. You will have a wonderful, interesting, dynamic career.

While Lou Bradley and her husband Phil Chaffer are best known locally for running the Nimbin Roots Festival, she has had a rich and varied life in the music industry for many years. Although she is very busy preparing for this year’s final festival and recording a new album, she made time to have a chat this week with Darlene Cook about her life.  I was born in the mid-1970s and grew up in Avalon, a northern beachside suburb of Sydney. I was the youngest of three sisters, and I was fairly spoiled as a kid and while back then I think both my sisters may have resented that, as adults, we got on really well. Our family and friends all had proper conservative jobs; my father was a practising lawyer who then decided being a milkman was more rewarding. He worked as a milkman for thirty years, as well as running some small businesses. My Mum, like many women of her generation, was a homemaker.We had an organ in the house and both my Dad and my Nan played; we often gathered round to sing with my Nan. I was the freaky music person that can play tunes by ear. I loved singing, and my parents encouraged that; they were happy to put me on show, as I loved being the centre of attention. I attended Barrenjoey High School, and I was playing guitar and keyboards and singing in my first band at the age of twelve. I went through teenage rebellion against my parents and “the system” and left home at fifteen to live with some band mates in Redfern. We moved around Sydney a bit, suburbs and inner city – wherever we could get a gig. I got smuggled into quite a few pubs back then! At 16 I met my life partner, Phil Chaffer, who is a fantastic musician, playing banjo and mandolin. Over the next eight years, we had three kids while still playing in the band and working part-time. In those days, I also learned how to be a booking agent and band manager, and I sat in meetings with record companies.In 1999, both my father-in-law and one of my sisters died. It was a shock for all of us, and Phil and I realised life is short and we needed to go somewhere to raise our family and get stuck into the creative side of music.  We stuck a pin in a map and found a beautiful place in the hills behind Mullumbimby (Mullum) near a small village called Huonbrook. It was about 12 kilometres as the crow flies from Nimbin. We had 30 acres of beautiful waterfalls, organic gardens, permaculture gardens. We were mostly self-sufficient for food, it was the most inspirational place ever. ((Lou out the front of her Huonbrook house, where her creative juices kicked off)This is when I started writing songs. The inspiration just came from the hills and nature around us, and from our experiences playing gigs for so long. In 2004, I found a local studio in Byron Bay and we recorded a backyard EP. Shortly after, we were driving to Mullum and I saw John Butler in the street. I’d just received the first copy of the EP and I jumped out of the car and ran over and introduced myself, gave him my EP and thanked him for paving the way for independent artists. He was only just starting to do that then, so it was a really big thing. I got a call a month or so later and he offered me a grant from a fund he’d established, called JB Seed, to tour my music in the Northern Territory. It was supposed to have been just Phil, me and the band going, but all our friends wanted to come too, so we had a mini bus with families, kids and pets and off we went and toured for weeks – 23 shows in 28 days!(Lou and her family touring in the NT)That was a really great experience and we learned a lot about different audiences in country areas. After we came back, I reflected on my need to take my music writing more seriously. It was a mix of country and bit hillbilly, and I needed to explore how I wanted my music to sound and evolve. In 2006, I saw this advertisement for a course with the Country Music College and thought I’d like to have a go at it. It’s based in Tamworth and held two weeks before the actual festival started. It’s an intense two-week program with skills workshops, songwriting workshops and learning about the industry and its history back to its roots in America. I got to meet singers, and writers, and producers – some great contacts.Ted Howard, a recording engineer I met at the Country Music College, introduced me to producer Rod McCormack, who lived on the Central Coast, and who is one of the best banjo players I’ve ever heard, and he produced my first full-length album , Love Someone.This album was a personal journey for me. It reflects the ups and downs of life, but it also allowed me to express some of my grief over my sister’s death. The album was nominated for an ARIA Award and Golden Guitar for Best Country Album. In 2007, I recorded a follow-up album, La La La Not Listening, exploring the joys and difficulties of modern life in Australia. This album was released on Slim Dusty and Joy McKean's Nulla label, and produced by Shane Nicholson.As it happens with musicians, finding work to make ends meet when you’ve decided to have a life dedicated to the arts was a struggle. The continuing question of do I keep my focus on my music versus focusing more on family and work. Sadly, we ended up not being able to keep the house in the hills, the bank repossessed it. This land was where we raised our children. It is a part of who we are as a family. Anyone who has ever had land will know what I mean. It is also a part of who I am as a songwriter. I believe this land is where my alternate style comes from.After losing everything, I decided to pack it in. But then one day I was waiting for my youngest daughter to finish her netball training and I was in the car reflecting on all the heartache and loss that had come before, when I thought once again about the music industry and whether or not it was worth my while. Distant thoughts of my children telling me in the toughest times, even once we had lost our family home, not to give up, came to me and tempted me to give this one last try. Maybe I should try local again. Full circle. I’ve heard we have world-class producers. Checking my phone for local producers, the first name I came up with was Anthony Lysenko. I emailed him from my phone, introduced myself and said I had about $5 if he was interested in making an album! He wrote back pretty much straight away, saying that it was one of the best emails he’d ever had and wanted to meet me straightaway. So, we met and started making an album. And what a journey it has been!I was pretty bitter about the music industry and still damaged from losing our home, so I knew this album would be very different from the others, but I was determined not to conform and make a mainstream album. It has to reflect my voice and my life.The album took me two years to make. I had to save every penny, including busking and pumping petrol to pay for it, and it actually evolved as I did, and by the end of it, I felt like I’d reached the “other side” of whatever the hell I was going through. Hence the title, I guess!In 2015, I recorded Moonshine, which is dedicated to my Dad, who died in April 2014. It was recorded live at Bill Chambers’ house with just Bill, Phil and me sitting in a circle playing the songs. The album deals with my grief about losing Dad, but there are also happy moments and stories of my life on the north coast. Financially, we were still in great difficulty. Phil and I agreed we need to get a “real” job. So, he worked full-time as a mechanic, and I also worked at the servo in Mullum for about six months.We’d been forced to find somewhere really cheap to live – by this time, the kids had left home and gone to Sydney – and we found a place at Barkers Vale, a shed for $100 per week, but with no bathroom and no toilet, so Phil had to go there and build one! That’s when Nimbin Roots Festival was born. Over the years, I’d been to a number of performances of “successful” artists – large venues, people packed in, and I always said “that’s not for me”. It felt like we had to create something just for artists who needed an outlet to perform their original music. They wouldn’t have to be famous, nor have to be successful, but just had to really mean it with their songwriting because that’s when you get back to the roots of your art.We decided to go back to the Northern Territory to get some money to help fund the start-up of the first Nimbin Roots Festival. Joy McKean, who was a terrific mentor for so many of us younger musicians, donated a caravan for us to tour in, and she told me to go and find our audience one by one and bring them here. So, we went out on the road to try to raise funds. While we had this idea for the festival, we didn’t want to tell people about it in case it didn’t work out. We got a bunch of artists who were friends over the years who said if we could sell 200 tickets, we can have this festival. With that in mind, we found work at Daley Waters pub and forged a relationship with them. They loved us, and we went back every year for ten years in a row – doing 100 shows in 100 days.(Lou in the NT with her grandson)The Daley Waters pub became our mainstay for touring. They provided a room for us. There are regular people who come to the pub every year just to see us, and many of them come down to Nimbin for the festival. In the first year, we hoped to sell 200 tickets; by the time we got up to Daley Waters, we had sold 300.After we did the stint in the NT, we came back to get the festival ready. That’s what we did every year for 10 years – a long stint up top, race back and run the festival. This year is the first year not doing the NT tour to raise awareness and funds for the festival.I had a very idealistic view about Nimbin, which is why we went there in the first place; its reputation as an alternate lifestyle village, its welcome for people of all different walks of life. It doesn’t give over to commercialism easily. It has several local festivals the village puts together, Mardi Grass, Nimbin Performance Poets, the Aquarius Festival – so a music festival embracing the roots of music should have found a definite niche in the village.People come from all over the country to Nimbin; they want to feel safe, they’re curious about the village and people. The music festival is one of the few things in Nimbin that hasn’t got some link to drugs and drug reform. They come for the quality music, and a safe family-run event where they can enjoy the warm, fuzzy vibe. Some locals look forward to the festival and enjoy it, but others have been less welcoming. Locals outside Nimbin think it’s just another weird thing in Nimbin without realising the quality of the artists and music on show. Over the ten years, I’ve noticed that very few tickets, maybe 2%, are bought by local area residents, and there hasn’t been the financial support you would expect from the Council, the chamber of commerce and the business community in the village or in Lismore. I think next year they may realise that they didn’t know what they had until it’s gone.One difficulty with Nimbin as the venue for a music festival has been the lack of a range of accommodation for visitors and undercover or indoor venues to host the event. The Nimbin Bowling Club and the Nimbin Hall have been very supportive, but the limitation has meant that ticket sales have had to be restricted to a maximum of 1,000.  Some years I’ve had a financial loss, which fortunately was covered by the tour in the NT. Last year, I had a small profit from the event.It's been an exhausting schedule for 10 years; you’ve got to have faith and dedication the whole year that it’s going to work. Reluctantly, I decided that this year will be the final Nimbin Roots Festival. The Northern Rivers area has a huge creative arts sector, but except for commercial Byron music festivals, there’s not a lot of other music festival outlets for people, just Nimbin and now Mullum. This year was the first year of the Mullum Roots Festival. Following the discontinuation of the much-loved Mullumbimby Music Festival in 2020, I saw an opportunity to fill the void and revive the town’s rich musical tradition. The absence of the Mullumbimby Music Festival has been deeply felt within our community, and I hoped they would embrace a new grassroots-focused music festival. It was a great success. Mullum people really got behind the event – nearly 65% of tickets sold were bought by locals. We had 2,500 people across 26 venues and have three more venues signed up, so we can fit in more next year. Mullum has the space to give musicians a place to perform and an audience that was appreciative of the experience to hear grassroots music, some for the first time. I’m looking forward to a long-term relationship with Mullum; I’ve got a good artistic vision for it going forward and excellent support from other people who have worked on festivals in the past and who want to be involved with this one. It is a 12-month project to actually organise and get the festival up and running, and it gets busier closer to the date. This year it’s also been a family event for me, with my Mum selling T-shirts and tickets, my sister helping with admin tasks, and my daughter and granddaughter coming along to help too. Four generations of one family all together!I need to keep this as a dedicated quality event for original music; musicians across the board can be very ego-driven, and it can be hard to keep the egos away and the self-indulgence away, and keep it entertaining so people will be interested enough in the new and unknown to come to the festival. I’ve just gotten to know through the years that I’ve got a good filter for that stuff, so I can now say to some people that I don’t want you, you’re too disruptive.Similarly, I can tell if someone really loves what they are doing. For so many musicians, it’s the first opportunity to have someone hear their music. It makes such a big difference to their perceptions of their voice and music, and if I can do this and create some success for them, then I’ve done a good job. People have come back to me and said they have buzzed for months after playing at Nimbin.Mentoring new voices and new original music is like caring for a broad family of people you’ve raised in the music industry. You’ve got to keep that support going. Next year at Mullum, there will be a Youth Battle of the Bands to encourage our younger players to showcase their music.While it’s not about the money, it has been really nice not to have to do the trip to the Northern Territory for funds this year. It’s also the first winter we’ve had down here in 10 years. Phil and I can now choose which small gigs we want to play and keep our own music fresh and alive.In the past couple of years, I’ve campaigned for an alternate-country Golden Guitar Award. Alt-country, things like bluegrass, indie folk, indie roots and other alternate stuff. It’s that whole fringe area that never goes near traditional country music. That genre is coming in really beautifully, and it’s working. Country music is very insular; I’ve worked hard to try to make it less insular and for the voice of alternate country to be heard. For an Alt Golden Guitar award, I had to put in a submission and try to teach them what alternate country music is.  Lee Kernigan and John Williamson were there at this meeting, but couldn’t get their heads around what I was trying to explain. It’s not mainstream, it’s not pop, it’s all this stuff on the fringe that needs to be recognised and have somewhere to go. Not country enough for strict country; it took two years for me to work on that project, and now, even today, the awards committee is still misrepresenting that genre. They don’t get it; they treat the Awards, so if you don’t get best country album you could win the alt country one. Moving forward, I’ve got other promotions and projects in the pipeline. I’ve been down in Sydney making a new album – the first new album in 10 years; it’s going well, we are about three-quarters through. I’m working with Peter O’Doherty at a studio at Malabar. Peter’s been a good friend for many years, and he and his brother Reg Mombasa have been very supportive of the Nimbin Roots Festival and now the Mullum one. Reg has done the artwork for many of our posters over the years, and they play together as Dog Trumpet.Phil and I have bought some land down in Tasmania, about half an hour out of Hobart, near the Huon Valley. It’s taken ten years to find our feet again and buy land again; the area is very like Huonbrook but freezing cold in winter. We’ve got 28 acres of beautiful undulating hills, a small cabin, a creek with rainforest along it with big ferns, mossy ground, and snow in winter. In my old age, I want to be able to sit by the creek, drink red wine, and watch the snow.I’d like to go to England and explore their old traditional folk and village music, most of which is the music roots for modern music. Phil and I do play “old time music” as part of our shows, me on fiddle and Phil on banjo. There’s a lot in those old-world traditions that I’d love to learn. Phil is my silent, quiet, awkward nerd, solid as a rock, partner. He’s fabulous on banjo and mandolin, but he’s so quiet! He’s shy, and even after hundreds of performances, he still gets stage fright and nervous.  I make fun of Phil for being so annoyingly shy and quiet, but by the end of the show, he’s become the hero of the show. Phil and I have been together for 35 years and married for 21. We got married at home in Huonbrook in 2004, with the kids all involved. We tried raising the kids in a music environment, took them out of school and on tours. But they all turned out “normal” people! One is a lawyer, another a psychologist and the third works with Department of Education. While they are all great singers and play instruments, none of them wanted the life we have had. They saw the struggles and have chosen to have hot and cold running water on tap. Phil and I visit, and actually, we find their life a bit boring; we get into trouble for not being “normal” enough.But we’ve got six grandkids so far, I’m hoping we may get a musician out of one of them!For information about the final Nimbin Roots Festival 2025, to be held on the 24th to 26th October – go to https://nimbinrootsfest.com/ and to buy tickets go to https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1310864

Joanna Martin, a Registered Nurse with more than 18 years’ experience across a range of healthcare fields, was recently awarded Nurse of the Year by the Northern NSW Local Health District. She sat down with Darlene Cook earlier this week to tell us her life story. I was born in Sydney on Gadigal land in the 1980s at the King George V Memorial Hospital for Mothers and Babies at Camperdown near Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, the eldest of two children. My parents were both Sydney University graduates; my father was a chemical engineer, and my mother started off in agriculture but then changed to teaching – she became a special needs teacher.  I had a lovely childhood with my younger sister playing around Stanmore, where I grew up, attending Stanmore Public School for my primary years. We were lucky to also spend a lot of time in the Hunter Valley at my parents’ bush property and on the south coast in Ulladulla, where my mum’s family lived. (Joanna at Primary School)I moved to Newtown High School of the Performing Arts for my high school years; I was mainly interested in piano, flute and voice. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep this going – I was a bit distracted by the social life that Newtown can offer!  I completed my HSC wanting to go to the University of Sydney to study speech pathology; however, I was once again preoccupied with my social life and missed the cutoff date to submit my course preferences. Mum saved the day by marching down to the Mallet St Camperdown Nursing Campus for USyd and begging for them to give me a place as a late entry, a couple of weeks before the course started. My plan was to transfer to speech pathology, but after a couple of hospital placements, I decided it wasn’t for me. My decision to enrol in nursing was cemented one day when I was on the train with my family, when a stranger, an eccentric little old lady wearing a red and white striped tracksuit, struck up a conversation and said, “You know, you really look like a nurse”. This was before I started nursing, but it had quite an influence on me – I still remember it quite clearly to this day. She also asked my mum how old “her father” was, not realising she was referring to my dad, mum’s husband –awkward! The Nursing degree was a 3-year degree then; in my 1st year, I did a unit on health issues for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – it’s a mandatory unit in the degree. It was an eye opener for me; I was unaware of the impact of colonisation on First Nations people, as we didn’t study it at school, nor the ongoing and direct connection that it has to today’s health issues for our First Nations people. Learning this compelled me to change my study pathway, changing to a four-year nursing degree called Bachelor of Nursing, Indigenous Australian Health.I was very privileged in that time to be taught by First Nations academics in nursing, and I treasure the special information imparted to me by those women, and the opportunity to work with numerous First Nations organisations, including the Aboriginal Medical Service in Redfern, observing first-hand how important these services are for the community.  Part of the degree meant that I spent a few months in Broken Hill, Wilcannia and Menindee on Barkindji Country. These smaller communities exposed me to what rural and remote health care really looked like – where nurses are everything to the community. We had to be able to do anything and everything, including driving the ambulance to help clear kangaroos off the airstrip so the Royal Flying Doctor Service plane could safely land. You kind of had to be able to do it all. (Joanna doing an outreach wellness check on Menindee Lake in remote NSW)It was a really good nursing experience; it was an important post - there was no onsite medical support in the town; you relied on the RFDS for help if needed. But there was incredibly good support from the other nurses. It was an interesting time for me career-wise and I’ve always felt drawn to go back to regional and remote areas. I came back to Sydney and got a position at St Vincent's in Darlinghurst’s emergency department. It was supposed to be part of a rotation to other medical areas; I had been considering moving to paediatrics, because that was what I really wanted to do, but I just really loved the emergency work, so I stayed on working in ED for many years.   St Vincent's Darlinghurst is just near Kings Cross and the pressure of the high volumes of patients coming through, while stressful, also built up a camaraderie that helped pull you through some of the really challenging cases. Also, the sense of connection to community you get from looking after some of the really prominent local people and particularly with the homeless community, the relationships we built were quite lovely. One claim to fame is that I appeared on Channel 9’s Kings Cross ER while working at St Vincent's! Kings Cross ER was a unique, fly-on-the-wall look at the experiences of the staff and patients at the always busy emergency department at St Vincent's Hospital. Back then, I really liked the high-powered, fast-paced variety of emergency department work; it also offered a pathway to career progression in nursing, which was influenced by some great colleagues, nurse educators and clinical nurse consultants who were really passionate about developing younger nurses’ careers. (Jo with Ciggy Butt at a Koori Knockout at Henson Park Oval promoting the Quit Campaign for NSW Health)I guess some people are really drawn to ED work for many reasons. Something I really appreciate about the work I’ve done there is that I’ve made lots of long-lasting friendships. Tim Ayers is one of the Clinical Nurse Consultants with the Movement Disorder Neurology Service here, and his wife Gemma is a Midwife at LBH and are both still close friends who I met back at St Vincent's ED. They welcomed their second new baby just this morning; congratulations Tim, Gemma and Amelia!! I met my husband Chris when working in emergency – he was a paramedic at that time. After a few years together, we decided to move to what we thought would be a slower pace of work life – to the Northern Rivers. We did a sea change in 2013 – moved to Byron for the proper sea change life; back then, you could afford to live in Byron. After we moved out of our rental, the prices went through the roof! I worked at Ballina hospital ED on their casual pool very briefly before applying for a job in Lismore at the Base Hospital, again working in emergency as a clinical nurse specialist for some of this time.  Lismore Base Hospital’s ED has a great team there as well with the same sense of camaraderie and connection over the work. I still have lovely friends from my time there. I met my current manager, Kath Shaw, also a nurse, in the Lismore Base ED. When I told people I had worked at the infamous “Kings Cross ER”, they would say, “Gosh you have seen some things”, and my response was “yes, but we see more at Lismore Base”. The huge geographical area, combined with isolation, economic pressure, natural disasters and limited resources, made this probably the most challenging environment to work in. I think this was highlighted for me, coming from the city where everything is at your fingertips. After working in Lismore for a few years, I had my first baby. We now have three boys, who are 9, 6, and 4 years old. Getting that work-life balance was essential. My husband Chris is currently studying for his Master's in Primary Teaching, so I am fortunate that with shiftwork and Chris studying, I could still progress my career while we were having our children. We’ve always managed the balance quite well, working shiftwork helps with that, but we still rely on childcare and daycare services. With Northern Rivers Family Daycare, we were lucky again in getting into the system before some of the barriers to getting into childcare started happening. Similarly, we bought our house just before the prices really rose exponentially; we know how lucky we are. We don’t have family to rely on up here, so it’s just us doing it.  During this time, I moved back to Ballina ED to work closer to home, which is also a great department, where teamwork is essential in keeping chaos at bay. After our first baby arrived, I started to think that emergency wasn’t for me anymore, especially the thought of potentially having to work each Christmas and miss out on sharing those important times with the children. I think I made that a firm decision when my eldest boy was about two.  I enrolled with the Australian College of Nursing and did a Graduate Certificate in Child and Family Health. This work is a community-based role with no shift work. With this role, every woman who has a baby gets offered a visit from a specialist Child and Family health nurse, who support swomen and families to be the best parents they can be, do child development checks and provide immunisations.I worked in the role at a few locations, mainly Lismore and Goonellabah, and for a short time at Casino, casually for a couple of years after having my third baby. I think I am still an ED nurse at heart, but it was the right decision at the time. I still work casually in community health, as a nurse audiometrist, supported by this local health district to complete the study required for the role last year. In 2022, another new direction saw the opportunity for my current permanent role as a Domestic Violence Prevention Officer. I was talking to an old friend from ED, Kath, who was just leaving this position. I thought it sounded like a good role for me, but the position had already been filled. However, it was readvertised about four weeks later, and I applied and was successful. My role is to support health staff to identify and respond to Domestic Violence.  There are many factors that contribute to the impacts of violence. Supporting health staff to have the knowledge around this, and to be trauma-informed as part of our response to people, is a huge part of my role. We look less at the “what” people do and the ways in which they present to health services, and more to the reasons “why”; what experiences have they had in their life that make them vulnerable. This is so important because we know that our responses to people really affect how and whether or not they later seek more help after those initial responses. (Joanna Martin - Nurse of the Year)My role comes under the policy and programs team within the Integrated Prevention and Response to Violence Abuse and Neglect (IPARVAN) service. This is a strategic role concerned with supporting the health policy around family violence, staff responses to clients disclosing domestic violence, prevention work and education. Maintaining connections with non-government services in the sector is a big part of the role, too, knowing that many of our clients rely on these services to provide other needs outside of health, such as legal advice or financial assistance. I can really see how the IPARVAN team definitely makes a difference; they are totally dedicated, and our managers are supportive and approachable. They make it really easy to do well and achieve great outcomes. In time I would certainly like to see no need for this kind of work; it’s not a reality, but hopefully the small steps we take do make a difference. Statistics indicate it’s not getting better, however it is common knowledge that this is a very difficult area to collect data on. Positively we do know that community attitudes to domestic violence are improving, which is one aspect of change needed to address it on the whole. What’s in the future? I feel I will stay in this role for some time; the position is so interesting, my managers and team are very supportive, and flexible around my days so I can do clinical work outside of my two set days in this role. I still do casual clinical work as an Audiometry Nurse with Community Health. Outside of work, I really enjoy walking and being as active as I can, but I’m not really interested in team sports; I’m just not competitive in that way. I like cycling – the whole family has done parts of the rail trail – the kids love their bikes. I love camping and exploring the region.  I love my books; I’m a very eclectic reader; I’ll read anything anyone hands me, really, happy to give it a go; I belong to two library book clubs and the kids are all readers too. My 9-year-old is into Harry Potter and fantasy action books.  I’ve come back to playing piano again after many years; no particular style – just self-entertainment – I enjoy tackling classical pieces as well as well-known pop ballads. The kids are keen for me to master the very famous Rimsky-Korsakov piece, which is unlikely but I may give it a go! My kids are also learning and enjoying the piano. I go to community events if they interest me; I attended parts of the Lismore Women's Festival, and I’ll probably drop into the writers’ festival this month and catch up with friends.  We have a dog – a bitza girl called Sookie – named after a famous vampire novel heroine, but her name also reflects part of her persona! She and the kids love to get to the beach whenever we can – just so they can bring tons of sand home with them.  The boys are heavily involved with soccer; they love the game and all of them are in teams. Chris coaches one of the teams.   Ideally, I’d love to see my boys grow up to be gentle and open and not affected by this culture of misogyny that many are born into. All we can do is set a good example for them at home.