Entries by

Rosalie Zycher

Sister Pat (Part 3) – Swept Away in the Big Wet

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The weather was one of the most formidable challenges Sister Patricia McPherson faced in the Kimberley region of Western Australia when she was a nurse in Fitzroy Crossing. Indeed, the Big Wet of 1966-67 almost took her life. Two seasons dominated the region. The Dry at its zenith, with its dust and searing heat that drained everyone of all energy by mid-morning and reached temperatures so extreme that her thermometer exploded. The Wet, that lasted around three months, flooded and cut off Fitzroy Crossing from all access outgoing and incoming except for the occasional emergency helicopter. 

Patricia McPherson (Part 1) – ‘Sister Pat’ A Legend Of A Nurse

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In 1963, 25 year-old nurse, Patricia McPherson, crossed Australia’s vast continent from her home in pastoral Gippsland in Victoria to arrive at Fitzroy Crossing, a tiny remote settlement in the centre of Western Australia’s rugged Kimberley region.

Nurse McPherson became ‘Sister Pat’, a legend of a nurse who pioneered itinerant nursing and transformed the delivery of health services to a vast region of Australia’s outback, and set the template for public health nursing that was adopted statewide.

Pat McPherson’s story is one of exceptional service and far-reaching achievements.

But it’s also a story of great adventure. It is a remarkable Australian story.

Maestro Simone Young – My Top 5 Places in Australia

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Maestro Simone Young AM is one of the world’s great opera and concert orchestra conductors. She has been called a ‘superconductor’, a conductor whose elegance and power, strength and sensitivity on the podium inspire her orchestra. She is a highly esteemed interpreter of the works of Wagner and Strauss, Mahler, Bruckner and Brahms, as well as those of contemporary composers.

Olivia Newton-John – My Top 5 Places in Australia

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We mourn the passing of Olivia. She was a personal friend. She was a great Australian. Her talent made her an international star. Her character and humanity transformed her personal suffering into pioneering work to ease the suffering and improve the health of thousands of women with breast cancer. Australians have a special and enduring […]

Kathy Lette – My Top 5 Places In Australia

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Kathy Lette epitomizes smart and sassy. Her razor sharp wit and incisive observations as a writer and commentator delight her many readers and admirers. As a writer, her talent has been not only to amuse, but also to use humour and her ribald take on life to deal with subjects that seriously affect the lives of […]

Anna Goldsworthy – My Top 5 Places in Australia

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Anna Goldsworthy is an acclaimed solo pianist, memoirist, playwright, and librettist.
She has performed widely, particularly at festivals in Australia and throughout the world. As a chamber player, she is a founding member of the celebrated Seraphim Trio.
Her two memoirs, ‘Piano Lessons’ and ‘Welcome to your New Life’, have been widely acclaimed.

Ajok – Women of Oz

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My name is Ajok. I come from South Sudan (in 2005).
We want to talk with the Australian people. We are good people. We are not bad people. This is kids who take the rule here. This rule is not our rule.
But now our kids not listen to us.
When you see on the TV they say black people do this, they do this, you not feeling good. You feeling like tell your kid and your family to go back in your country. But not safe in our country. That’s why we are here.

Fatma – Women of Oz

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My name is Fatma. I come from Sudan. It was very dangerous, very scary. Some people stealing some things, some people steal kids. I’m scared, I say, Oh my God, me alone – no-one to help me. Just me with four boys and all just small.

Legendary Stockman of the Australian Outback, Luke McCall

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Luke McCall, aged 84, is one of the few surviving stockmen. For over half a century he crossed the vast length and breadth of Australia with thousands of head of cattle and horses. He loved the life and the stock and never saw it as a life of extreme physical hardship, danger and isolation. In this profile she has written for WomanGoingPlaces, Patricia McPherson describes her mate, Luke McCall as ” a legendary stockman whose name stands high right across the north of Australia.”