Tell us a fun fact about yourself!
I’m a bird vet and own Harewood, how’s that fun.
What are you most passionate about?
Being a kind, respectful and contributing part of a beautiful ecosystem.
What do you love about the Western Port Bay area?
Looking across to French Island from the balcony at Harewood watching the tides move in and out – a cameo of history, animals, people, and landscape.
What would your last meal be?
On death row? Grilled barramundi with mango salsa.
What was your most memorable moment?
Lying in the sarcophagus in the great pyramid of Egypt, being moved into an out of body experience by meditating friends.
What was your favourite subject in school?
Biology, but most favourite ever was Intellectual Life in 19th Century Melbourne learning about the black sheep and illegitimate offspring sent off to make their fortunes in the Gold Rush Victoria. A ‘meal ticket’ mentality to education sells everyone short, history is both fun and important.
What event past or present would you like to witness?
A pre-contact corrobboree of the gathered clans of the Kulin nation at Birrarung Marr.
Which six dinner guests, dead or alive, would you invite to dinner?
Bilibilary (ngurungaeta of the Kulin Nation at the time of white contact), Stephen Hawking, Queen Elizabeths I and II, David Attenbourgh and my dad.
What are you currently listening to/watching or reading?
Waverley the novel by Sir Walter Scott, from the Harewood library.
How would you describe your fashion sense?
Atrocious.
Have you had a pet that has made an impact on your life?
Birds, echidnas, bandicoots, wallabies, butterflies: wildlife returning to Harewood as rewilding progresses. Also loved my beautiful Golden Retrievers Tillie and Meg.
If you had to compete on MasterChef, what dish would you cook?
I’d ask my daughter and son-in-law, they’re awesome cooks.
Where is your dream holiday destination?
Loved doing a three month camping trip from Kathmandu to London via Afghanistan in the 1970s, now a grandchildren-friendly holiday discovering their interesting ancestors in Europe and America would be fun – but they may need to be a few years older.
What is your favourite colour and why?
Gum green, but it must come with the sounds and smell of a Eucalypt woodland. Wonderful to come back to after being overseas.
Do you consider yourself an extrovert or an introvert?
Definitely introvert but give me a costume/character and I change.
What’s one question you have never been able to get the answer to?
The role bugs, butterflies and other invertebrates play in Ecological Vegetation Communities at Harewood – working on it with some cool scientists.
