I am a 7th generation Australian. By first ancestor to arrive in Australia did so as convict on the First Fleet in 1788. He was from London, England. He married a woman from the Second Fleet in 1791. In total some 19 of my ancestors were British convicts from England and Ireland arriving in the period 1788-1841. Others of my ancestors arrived as free settlers fleeing from poverty and dispossession in the United Kingdom. I am proud of my ancestors who made a new life in a new country and I am especially proud of those who helped and worked with the Indigenous people who had been in Australia for some 60,000 years.
I am a retired school principal who enjoys family history and genealogy, computers, technology, AFL and the Sydney Swans and helping others by volunteer work.
My career
I worked for some 35 years for the NSW Department of Education as a classroom teacher and worked my way up through the ranks and spent the majority of my career as a school principal in a variety of schools – small schools, rural and regional schools, in provincial cities and in the outer urban area of Sydney, the capital city of NSW. I also did some teaching at TAFE and in teacher education in a college of advanced education.
My credentials
I completed a Bachelor of Science degree specialising in mathematics, physics and computing. Before beginning teaching I completed a Diploma of Education and whilst teaching completed a Masters of Education degree.