Tasmania — Growing Up
In early 1966, when I was five years old, my family left Victoria and returned to Tasmania. We settled first at Table Cape, on the North-West Coast, where my earliest memories of Tasmania began.
Over the next twelve years I would grow up on Tasmania’s North-West Coast, living at Table Cape, Somerset, Camdale and Burnie. These were the years of primary school and high school, family and friends, football and athletics—and the experiences that made Tasmania feel like home.
By the end of 1978, another change was approaching. The following year I would leave Tasmania for Melbourne, beginning a very different chapter of my life.
Explore These Years
Table Cape
Where my Tasmanian childhood began • 1966–1968
Our first home in Tasmania was a small cottage on Table Cape. These were my earliest school years and the beginning of the childhood memories that made Tasmania home.
Somerset
The house where I grew up · 1968–early 1970s
In 1968 we left Table Cape and moved into our newly built family home in Somerset. For the first time I had a bedroom of my own, and Somerset became the setting for much of my primary-school childhood.
Burnie High School
High school, Scouts and teenage life · 1973–1976
I began Burnie High School while we were still living in Somerset, before our family moved to Camdale and later Burnie. These were years of new friendships and growing independence, with Scouts becoming an important part of my teenage life.
Hellyer College
College and athletics · 1977–1978
My final two years of school were spent at Hellyer College. Athletics had become an important part of my life, taking me beyond school competition and eventually to national championships in Sydney as a member of the Tasmanian team.
