| Pixie's Story |
| I was born way back in 1954 on 24th July; I think about 11pm. This happened at the Brisbane Womens Hospital. My dad was in the Army and before I was much older we (Mum, Dad, Tony and myself) moved from Brisbane to Sydney. We lived there till I was five. In fact we left just a few months after my birthday - a fact I remember very well. This is one of my first memories. My Mum was a great cake decorator and had made a beautiful Doll Cake for me. I can still picture it. My parents were very busy with packing and making arrangements for our next move. They decided that being such a beautiful cake and us not going to be around for very long it would be a good thing to donate to the school fete - my older brother's school! As you can imagine the little 5 year old was devastated by this action not understanding at all. Naturally I fully appreciate the time pressures they were under. It was a big move this time - all the way to Malaysia. We went by ship which I loved except they put me in the hospital cause I wouldn't eat the food! Never been too keen on western food styles. My years in Malaysia were wonderful. Maybe I was Asian in a past life. I loved the food, the weather, the lifestyle and the people. I have always been rather practical and this I was about to experience my first 'no imagination' experience. I was enrolled in Brownies. I dont think I went for very long. My only memory of this was being 'kicked out' because I refused to 'see' the faeries in the ring. When I think back I find that rather strange as I am a very spiritual person and you have seen my nickname. I was first called Pixie when in Malaysia cause I used to sit on top of the fridge so I could be around but not in the way. I was quite a small person until middle age has spread!! After two years we returned to Australia firstly, staying with my grandmother (maternal) for several months until Dad was posted to Brisbane. We lived in new housing at Salisbury.During our three years in Brisbane several major events occured. Shortly after moving in my younger brother, Quentin was born. This was a difficult time for Mum not being well after the birth. I broke five bones in my foot mucking around after ballet class. Tony was diagnosed with nephritis (kidney condidtion) and spent many months in hospital. Dad was away a lot which meant Mum had to deal with these crisis on her own; all family living in Melbourne or Sydney. The family also travelled a lot. Going on holidays with other familes and travelling to Melbourne (via Sydney) to visit the relatives. When I was eleven we moved to Rockhamption. Fortunately we only stayed there for six months before moving to Maryborough, Queensland. One of the best things about living there was the house. During the nearly two years Tony and I got very into swimming. We trained every day 6am-8am and 4pm-6pm. In the middle of July we moved to Canberra. What a shock to the system this was. Crunchy grass, freezing cold and I had to wear shoes! Life changed dramatically for me at this time. Due to the high cost of living in Canberra Mum needed to also work. This left me to care for Q; severely restricting my freedom to explore my teenage years. Dad started studying which he didnt take to easily. This was not a good time in my life. Mum also started studying. Tony was bought a caravan for a home away from home in the backyard. It also provided a little bit of sanctuary for me also. Immediately on completeing my last HSC exam I was on a plane to Melbourne, but only briefly. I returned to Canberra, studied madly for the University entrance exam (equivalent to HSC) to achieve better marks and perhaps a scholarship - the only way I was getting to university. No luck. I then spent time in Nimbin setting up, painting and all manner of tasks in preparation for the very first Aquarius Festival. I was sick and had no fight in me ... meandering into the Public Service and staying for 13 years. The only relief to this life was a regular trip overseas. I was very active swimming, squash, windsurfing, snowskiing, running, hockey, navigator in a rally car. I rarely stayed anywhere too long - job or house. In the early 1980's I took up playing bridge, as in card game. I enjoyed this very much and wasnt too bad at it either. I was engrossed in this life for around 13 years but my last overseas trip saw an end to a lot of things I did. During this time I got married and divorced to hugh who was also a bridge player. we settled in canberra and set up home; complete with two of my greatest loves - Lan Lan and Mau Mau Yet another malaria infection layed me low resulting in being retired early due to my ill health. I wasnt able to do much more than sit in front of a TV and slept. I tried to work for some time even resorting to working from home when I could... but even that became too much. I was housebound for months. I took up Tai Chi which I believe saved my life. I also decided that I needed to do some serious work on my relationship ability. Hand in hand with the tai chi was the availability for workshops run by Lama Choedek. Mainly I did anger management and studied Buddhism. I was now a very different person ... at peace Finally I decided to move to Queensland. I stayed with a mate on the Gold Coast for about four months then moved to a lovely house in the very south of Brisbane. I got to house sit for five weeks; and loved it. Fell in love with the chooks and the little bit of space (two acres). It was here where my life changed forever.... I met my darling husband Peter We have been together for just over 4 years but it feels like we have been together forever. We fit. Our few years have been very eventful We spent the first few weeks finishing my house sitting; then returned to Canberra to 'fix up' my house for sale. We then moved to an old forestry village in SE Queensland.... bought a very old and run down house to renovate. Life was good so we started up a business. We were thriving together and so was the business until a 'local' was so offended by our refusing them credit (they had defaulted the first time we had done this for them and still owed). Unexpectedly the boyfriend arrived at our door; managed to knock peter out by slamming the door back in his face, then entered grabbed a semi-conscious peter and dragged him out onto the balcony then pushed him over the edge to the ground - about two metres; he then jumped down on top of peter and continued to kick him in the head and body with his steel cap booted feet. I tried to push him off but was picked up and tossed like a piece of paper but this gave Peter enough time to come to at which time the 'person' ran away!! I wont dwell anymore on this sad subject except to tell you the end... we walked away from our home and business ... the justice system failed us completely and when it went to court the Magistrate dismissed all charges! and he walked on a GBH (grievous bodily harm) charge and assault charge. We were now quite destitute and now have to rent and live off a disability pension. It has been a considerable adjustment dealing with the lack of income and the severe post traumatic stress. Some months before the incident we had taken in a foster child - Brhody. The three of us plus my two girls (LL & MM) and B's cat (Smudge) packed up what we could and moved to Kyogle. She only stayed for six months before returning to Queensland. We have had no contact since. We moved into a nice house but the people who owned it decided to move in themselves so after only five months we had to move again. We moved to a place near the centre of town. It seemed good at first but we found the extremely steep driveway increasing hard to take. The main reason for the uncomfortableness was because we had managed to step on somone toes. This person clearly had local clout and we were embroiled in a police investigations based on an anonymous report! I dont want to go into it as it is still fresh and caused us more grief - emotional, physical and financial.. One good thing did come out of it. Apart from the false report we obviously were reported to all the government agencies - ATO, Centrelink etc. The Centrelink inquiry resulted in me being put on a Carer Pension plus Carer Payment which was a substantial increase to our income. My darling gorgeous grey girl Lan Lan died on June 4th ... I am still grieving .. but know the pain will ease ... one day We moved to a beautiful part of the planet in January 2006. Our luck has obviously changed. The place is located on a farm and there is acres of bush surrounding us. The only other people close by are the landlords who are our age and are lovely people. We did the move ourselves due to the extreme financial situation. This all but killed us and took many many months to recover from. The house we live in now is a converted milking bails. It had no insulation and plenty of places for the heat to escape so was a hard winter. Since we moved in the bathroom has been renovated (by Peter) and the landlord has put batts in the roof. That has made a huge difference to the comfortableness of the house. I moved my darling LanLan from the yard in Kyogle. I couldnt leave her there and feel good that she is in a lovely resting spot under a huge native tree. MauMau is still going well although all but blind and deaf. She gets around pretty well and we are here 99% of the time anyway. We have now regained sanity and some energy and are doing some things to improve our lives. One of these is to file for bankruptcy. The events in Kyogle cost us yet again and with the interest the cards (2) have become more than we can deal with on our pensions. You can find pics of our piece of paradise on the photos page. we have also contacted Queensland Legal Aid in the hope of achieving some justice with the events of Queensland. |
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