Margaret Meehan lived the first part of her life in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield and was her hometown for many years.

“That stability gave me the opportunity to travel around with a base to come back to,” she said.

“Since then, I’ve moved around to places such as Woy Woy on the NSW Central Coast, the Sydney inner suburb of Alexandria and the South Coast rural town of Candelo. Rutherglen has been my new home since 2022.”

What do you do workwise?

I started with infant teaching, then after a year of travelling I was motivated to change my career and try my hand at TV and radio production. If you can manage a classroom of 36 kindergarten (Foundation in Victoria) children, you can take on the world. While I chopped and changed jobs, I managed to combine my teaching skills with my production skills, always choosing jobs that I loved and enjoyed. I returned to school this year as a Learning Support Officer.

What brought you to your career?

My three older sisters are teachers and my younger sister a nurse. All fabulous role models. There were really only two choices when I finished secondary school – nursing or teaching. I chose teaching, which as it turned out, was a stepping stone to a wonderful lifetime career. I moved from not-for-profit organisations to dabble in the corporate world, then back again. For the most part, I’ve made the best of any opportunity, learning along the way, worked with fabulous people, and revelled in my experiences. I’ve been very lucky.

What do you love about your work?

The successes, failures, opportunities, diversity, people, and now the memories.

What do you do in the community?

I’m a volunteer with the SES and at the Rutherglen Visitor Information Centre. Not knowing anyone when I arrived in the town has opened my eyes and heart to a community that I never expected. It’s the people you get to meet, learn from, and laugh with that have made me feel welcome. To fulfil a creative urge, I joined Arts Rutherglen.

Is there an important community issue that you think needs addressing?

Trucks still travelling on Main Street. How Rutherglen expands while retaining its beautiful rural town charm needs to be considered and preserved.

What would you do to solve change, improve that situation?

In other places I have lived, vital town infrastructure was overlooked, compromising community services. Let’s not go down that path. There are so many good examples of what is possible – let’s follow them. At the heart of every community are the people.

What do you see as one of the most important current world issues?

With consideration of current events, I have tuned out from all commercial media outlets and press and has been a refreshing move. The past few days have been overwhelming. For the moment I am focusing on my role in this world and what I can do better in Rutherglen.

If the person you would most like to meet came to Indigo Shire, who would that be, what would you show them, and why?

Rutherglen’s own Bill Chambers OAM. I never met him and only knew about him. The stories I hear of other people’s memories have me wishing that I would have had the opportunity to sit and share a drink and a chat with him.

What book are you reading?

A few books are piled up - Bill Edgard’s “The Coffin Confesso,” Miné Okubo’s “Citizen 13660” and ‘Vaxxers’ by Professor Sarah Gilbert and Dr Catherine Green. I hope to have time these holidays to finish them all.