​At the end of each term we had a classroom concert with an invitation in Indonesian, songs, students showing their language skills and always finishing with a play based on an Indonesian folk story. Parents loved it as did the performers.

​Since my first book had sold out long ago, I decided to use my twenty five years of experience to write one last book called ‘Making Indonesian Fun’. It was launched not long before I came to Benalla. I was 83 at the time.

I’ve realised that basically I’ve spent my life talking, singing and writing.

What was that about retirement?

What’s next on the list?
 
Carmyl Winkler
August 2023

My retirement was driven by a disruptive medical issue, Cancer of my mouth in 2017. My partner also had her work disrupted due to urging to take leave to support her partner with Cancer.

In this time, we purchased our South Yarra apartment and sold our family home in Mount Waverley, including renovations and moving.

My partner’s work was impacted and wasn’t the same after she returned to work, so six months later she resigned (retired). I continued working from home for another six months and then pulled the pin on all work.

During the following months we looked at purchasing a country property and undertaking some travel with our caravan. This was after we completed 4 weeks working for Blazeaid as volunteers, very enjoyable. However my partner, who had completed many years volunteering, declared "I am not volunteering any more".

So we looked around for a country property to suit our budget and give us something meaningful to do, such as clean up a property, place a house on it and use as a country retreat. The property we found was 3 hours north of Melbourne which was a bit of a challenge.  Covid was upon us, however as owner builders we were allowed to visit our site to meet contractors and do work (2021). The property was a 2-acre block where the house had burnt down (deliberately lit apparently to collect insurance!)

We began our search for a suitable portable home which was cheap and could be moved to the site complete. The council advised that as it was a portable, relocatable dwelling, we didn’t need a building permit!  This has since been revised and we had to go through the whole process of stumps, power, septic and getting sign off.

The whole process took about 9 months to complete, and we moved the cabin on at the end of 2021.  We then decided to sell the apartment and moved permanently to Yundool, 35 km north of Benalla. Our retirement activities included many long walks and bike rides exploring the local area (pubs, towns and finding all the best pie shops).

The project included large decks and verandahs, front and back.  We finally received our certificate of occupancy. One of the gotchas was our BAL 29 fire rating which required steel mesh screens.  The final item to be ticked off was a compliance certificate for the glass shower screen (ridiculous!). We now had our permanent place of residence and could live there.

Job done. It was an interesting journey dealing with council, building surveyors and our cabin supplier, who stopped taking our calls as soon as the 12-month warranty expired.
​
The neighbours were very helpful at all steps of the journey, including pulling trucks out of the mud and mowing the grass so we weren’t at risk of grass fires. We learnt so much and enjoyed being back in a country location where people are helpful, welcoming and we only have 40 years to go to becoming a local!

During the project we encountered another issue that is now my retirement activity…..  (for another time…..)
 

James Davey
​August 2023

​I had planned to retire at 70 years.   For some time, I had been purchasing household items such as sheets and towels, boxing them up to use in later in life.   I purchased additional basic clothing with the same thought in mind, however, did not take into account that I would not stay the same build and they would not fit when I decided to use them.    St. Vinnies was a blessing to donate to at this time.    This was my aim, however fate changed my path; my partner passed away suddenly, and due to circumstances beyond my control I had to leave my employment of 23½ years owing to an extremely stressful situation.    I left under Workcover and was effectively forced to ‘retire’ at 68.
 
I sat for a while, looking at four walls in a home I had just purchased.  I was lonely, as living at Winton I never came into town very often and had only two friends in the area.    I drifted from one thing to another – took up quilting; took up diamond painting; eventually joined a croquet club; but I was never really happy with myself or my place in life at that time.     Many a day and night were spent in tears – looking at a long, lonely future by myself.   I was quite happy to spend a day behind closed doors, I now realise, feeling sorry for myself.    This went on for 12 months.   
 
Then Workcover gave me an ultimatum – they were cutting my benefits and I could either get a job or retire.     I tried to get a job – too old and really no interest.   I had not done any financial planning for my future.    I had very little superannuation as this was not required many years ago.    I would have to go on the Pension.  How was I going to live, eat and just survive.  My life was once again in a turmoil.
 
I sought help and this time, looking at the two choices I had, ‘I’ made the decision to retire.    Suddenly I understood.     It was my choice now, not forced on me.    I could now sit down and plan for my future.    I had limited income – how could I make it go further and enjoy myself at the same time.    I received some monies on retirement and bought a new car, a reliable vehicle to transport me to places.     I set myself up in my home, this time with retirement in view and to save me on additional expenses in future.   As stated previously, I had boxed items for the future, some of which I could use.
 
With this different attitude to retirement as my choice, I made an extra effort to fill in my time.  I set myself a daily schedule, joined various groups such as U3a, the Age Friendly Reference Group, Garden Club; took more interest in my croquet, joined Committees, and more.    I was starting to live again.  My days were now busy.  I met so many wonderful people from all walks of life, and more importantly, stopped feeling sorry for myself.    After many years of working 7 days a week I could now ‘stop to smell the roses’, not feel guilty if I wished to pass the afternoon away reading a good book, or even taking a nap.    I could have more contact with my children and my grandchildren who were growing up fast. I had missed out on so much.
 
I can now say – Retirement is great, and I highly recommend it!
 
 
Heather Wallace
August 2023

​Norm Fisher has died!!!!!
​
Norm was the well-loved and respected Director of the Canberra Institute of Technology. He died within two weeks of retiring. It was a shock for most of us but in those days, such an event was not unusual. The phenomena of leaders and senior managers, in high profile challenging jobs, dying soon after retirement, was not an uncommon tragedy at the turn of the century. Since then much research, advocacy and strategic intervention has sought to create,  in many workplaces, a more sustainable work life balance. Yet there are still pockets where long work hours or poorly managed shift work rosters impact significantly on physical and mental health.

Data in a recently released report showed that 20 per cent of Australian men and 7 per cent of women worked 50 hours or more per week in paid employment in 2015. This was down from 26 per cent and 8 per cent respectively in 2004. Despite the reduction in hours, Australia is still among the bottom third of OECD countries when it comes to working long hours.

I was not a senior manager. I enjoyed my job as a middle manager combining management and teaching but I did live with the stress of managing both roles. I loved the teaching, especially at night to mature-age students. At one stage though, I had responsibility for thirty full time, part-time and casual teaching staff. The financial pressures on the TAFE at the time and the fatigue I had accumulated meant that when the opportunity came for early ‘retirement’ at 60, I enthusiastically said ‘yes please’.

Although too old ‘to retire to stud’, I was much too young to turn to a life of bowls and bingo. A number of friends I discovered, freed from the 40-50 hour burden of full employment, undertook courses, particularly through TAFE or local community organisations. I developed an interest in horticulture and began a Certificate IV. I enjoyed the nature of applied learning and found great satisfaction in propagating plants from seeds, cuttings or grafts, successfully selling all of them at our annual Spring fair.

I also discovered that the skills I had gained in my various workplaces, I could access successfully in casual and part-time employment. I worked on three national Census’, two as an area manager. I worked as a Bureau of Census and Statistics interviewer for their monthly statistics and as an administrator for an Eco community. I have been an enthusiastic participant in a number of national health research projects and a regular polling booth worker for local, state and federal elections.

I am not alone in acknowledging that a post ‘retirement’ period can be the most satisfying and enriching period of life. I do also recognise that many in our community do not have the luxury of stable and secure living arrangements or a steady and secure retirement income that offers a buffer in times of economic stress. I am both humbled and grateful for the opportunities I have been given. 


Graham Jensen
August 2023

​My senses are heightened as I drive to my final night's work. The road is long. "Oh please may there be no fog!" The freeway is well marked and orderly, so different now from the narrow roads through thick fog and floodwater and fire in 1973.

As is fitting Leanne hands over to me; she is from my past, from other work places. She says, "Enjoy your night." and I do.

There is no sadness in leaving. There is pride in a good career of 48 years nursing, carried out with as much integrity that I can summon. The years come flooding back. What was the best? That's easy, it's my time spent in theatre, casualty and acute nursing.

Good times? They would be hard to find. That's not what it's about. There were triumphs in lives saved. At the same time there were traumas that took you to the wire, and all of this against the backdrop of your own personal life.

When we were young everything was great and we thought we would live forever. Then fate dumps a dying friend in your care and you walk the line between nurse and friend.

In the last few years of nursing in Aged Care I’ve met some rich characters; that is, rich in wisdom in their final years. What flowed through them was tranquillity, a quiet endurance and knowledge of themselves and their world. This takes them well into their nineties before life's spin of the wheel caught up with them.

So what has been the importance of my work? It's to keep my patients in a pain free, comfortable, peaceful and secure environment and to see a smile on their face. When a little old lady looks up at me from her snug warm bed and says, "It’s so nice to see you again." I know I have done a good job. That's enough, that's the good times.

It's my last night as a nurse. I am on a high. This is the same feeling as when I found I had passed my final exams. It’s 1965; the results are in the evening papers. The Matron rings the hospital reception. "Thelma, are the results out yet?" "I don't know." "Well, has anything unusual happened?" Thelma tells her that I have just come bolting down the stairs and have run out of the building!" "Thank you Thelma, the results are out then." She knew us well. I walk on my rounds tonight enjoying every step.

When the morning staff arrive I tell them it's my last handover to them. They look at me dumbly, they think I’m joking. I give them a thorough handover and then count the drugs for the last time with the new Indian nurse who is in charge of the morning shift. There is none of the old crew to say, "Take care. We'll miss you." They have retired long ago.

​I open the glass front door into the rest of the world and as the sunlight hits me in the face I am struck with a feeling of sheer joy. Now it's my time in the sun. I sing all the way home.


​Bev Morton
August 2023

The date was 23rd December, 1998 and our business was closing for the Christmas break.  I considered that the time had come for me to retire and relax.  The staff gathered and had a farewell drink with me.

I had been in the work force for 48 years, the last 31 in an accounting partnership.

And so I entered a relaxed period, with thoughts of travel foremost n my mind.

That was so until a contemporary practitioner (Wal Pfeiffer) approached me and said, "Ray, you have to help me!"

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) had been introduced and pre-empted much addtional work for those in the accounting profession.

He requested me to work with him for three days a week in the months ending each quarter, to assist with quarterly GST returns.  As he and I had studied together and had been been friends for many years, I agreed.  However, I hadn't foreseen, (nor had Wal), that I would be with him for two years solid!

Notwithstanding, I really enjoyed that role, and December of the year 2000 saw my eventual retirement.


Being retired does not mean that one is not occupied.  I continued, and even expanded, my roles in Probus and U3A.  I carried on my role of honorary auditor of a number of community clubs, and there was more time for lawn bowls.

I took on the position of Finance Director for 4 years with the Bowls Cub and then another four years as Secretary of the club.

Then the "real" retirement!  A Trafalgar tour of Europe and Scandinavia.  And so we enjoyed Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Estonia and St. Petersburg.  Afterwards we returned to London, where our daughter, Cathy, was managing the marketing arm of Brown Bros (Milawa) Britain circuit.  Being away from home and Mum & Dad, Cathy was experiencing some loneliness, so we stayed a while with her in her small Windsor flat, just a little way from Windsor Castle.  We then flew with her to Paris and Barcelona and followed that with a flight and several days stay in Ireland.

On return home to Benalla we settled again into retirement mode, just taking life on a day to day basis.

While I was enjoying lawn bowls, Bernadette was settling into golf (coupled with lawn mowing, gardening and home duties).

We took a flight to Norfolk Island and a bus tour to Kangaroo Island, and then became attracted to cruising with the Princess line.  We went on six cruises to New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and Singapore and then .... COVID struck!  An unintended halt to travel!

All along I have been a member of the U3A "Singing for Fun" group where a group of approximately 30 of us "oldies" get together each week.  We have given presentations to the Cooinda and the Freemasons' oldies a number of times.

I have also been a member of the FCJ College "Let's Find Our Voice" program over the last 2 years.   We rehearsed with the Year 7 students for 3 months prior to our public presentations at BPAC and the FCJ Hall and made some memorable friendships with the youngsters.

On 20th and 21st June we reached our climax.  For Bernadette's birthday our family sent us to Sydney to see the Disney presentation of Beauty and the Beast.  We were spoiled rotten with the show, a suite overlooking the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the bay and a chauffeur driven experience for 2 days.

WHO WOULDN'T BE RETIRED???


Ray O'Shannessy
August 2023

A word that puts excitement into the lives of some and fear in others. For some it’s a time to fulfil all those ambitions and dreams that were placed on hold while working. Yet for others it’s a time of thinking what now?

Sadly, I was in the latter category. I was lucky in that I was never unemployed. I had a variety of interesting careers which meant that every day I was up, off and running to complete the days tasks. Some of my career choices were in those occupations where regular hours are impossible and one never knew what the day was going to bring. Travel also featured prominently so life was never dull. The one thing I had no experience of was taking it easy. That was a totally alien concept. The thought of getting up in the morning with nowhere I had to be,  scared me.

So, that day that we were gathered in the canteen and told that we were all to be made redundant, the company was closing, was a devastating blow. The company made up amazing resumes which were sent out on our behalf to assist us with job applications. But it appears that 20yrs in the industry and a good reputation means nothing when competing with 20 something uni grads. I was on the scrap heap. Mid 60’s and wiped off the employment list. Scary stuff. Suddenly the excitement in my day was cleaning out a cupboard, sitting in my sewing room, or pottering in the garden. For some that was pleasure, for me it was boredom. A kind of home detention. I had to fix this.

During the last year of employment, we had been looking for a house in N.E. Victoria//Southern NSW as a holiday home and eventual retirement place. Somewhere out of the hustle and bustle of city life and closer to family. Then my husband got offered an early retirement package which he readily accepted. Plans accelerated and we sold our city house, found our rural home and off we went. Ready to start a new life as retirees. Whatever that may be.

Well, I quickly learnt that you don’t stand in the middle of Benalla and say I want to volunteer, you get run over in the rush. After the basic unpacking and sorting I was bored already so I went was the Information Centre to see what was in and around Benalla. I asked if there were any volunteering roles so I could try to fill in my day. I became a volunteer at the Centre where I learnt all about my new home. During training I was shown the Aviation Museum, so I found myself working there too. Of course, I ended up in the RSL having transferred membership and there I met the Salvos chaplain who introduced me to the Op Shop where I began volunteering. Through that I met CWA ladies and of course, volunteer there too. My neighbor introduced me to Probus where I eventually became newsletter editor, then secretary. Paul became Vice President at the RSL and attended a Lions changeover dinner with me as guest. That lead to me joining Lions where I became involved with the driver reviver program, kids public speaking comp, raffles, fundraisers and the antiques fair. I eventually became secretary there too. I was also introduced to U3A, and found many interesting social groups to join.

After 8 years of retirement, I currently am secretary to the RSL, GV Rail and VT Lions. Vice President of CWA as well as being their craft coordinator. I do newsletters for two organizations and I still volunteer at the op shop, the Aviation Museum and assist with RSL Welfare and my most recent achievement, I actually joined the Salvos!

​One day I’ll look up that word “retirement” and see what it means!