STANLEY’S Margaret Hinton was born in Blackpool in the north west of England and came to Australia on a working holiday in 1982.
She emigrated to Australia in 1993 after working in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for eight years and became an Australian citizen in 1997. Margaret has lived in Stanley for the last eight years with her partner Graham and pet ferrets.
What did you do workwise?
I have had numerous jobs from a fruit picking backpacker in Australia and New Zealand through to science and maths teaching on a remote coral island in PNG. My professional life has been in education, but I also have “real life” experiences.
What brought you to your career?
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I feel I was an “accidental” teacher. Most of my high school teachers were surprised that I had chosen to study for an education degree. And even after I qualified it was six years before I became a high school teacher with Voluntary Service Overseas (a charity that brings together local, national and international volunteers to work alongside the world's most marginalised and vulnerable) in PNG. I met Graham in the first term at Chester College in the UK.
What did you love about your work?
The part I enjoyed most was the creating and editing of teaching materials. After leaving the PNG high school, Graham and I worked in Port Moresby for nearly five years in the curriculum development division writing maths textbooks for high schools.
In Australia we worked at TAFE teaching numeracy and literacy for which we had to create many of our own materials to suit adult learners.
What do you do in the community?
Every two weeks I go to the Red Cross Blood Bank in Wangaratta to donate almost a litre of plasma, which is the yellowish liquid part of blood. It can be used for 18 life-changing treatments from making vaccines, treating severe burns and as part of major surgery.
I am also a member of three choirs – Beechworth Singers, Beechworth Anglican Christ Church and Stanley Singers. We visit nursing homes and Beechworth Correctional Centre as well as performing for the public.
I can also be found out and about with my ferrets raising their profile as great pets, educating the public and giving a home to ferrets who need a new one.
What do you love about living in Stanley and why?
Mostly the climate – seasonal and not too hot and fabulous soil for growing plants. Also, a great community with many artists and musicians.
If the person you would most like to meet came to Indigo Shire (past or present), or was already here, who would that be, what would you show them, and why?
I would like to meet my grandfathers again, Joseph and James, who died when I was seven years old and 11 years old respectively.
James was a singer. He would love the choirs I'm in and being musical he would appreciate all the fabulous music makers in Beechworth and Stanley as well as the two historic organs and the rare ring of bells at Christ Church.
Joseph was a gardener so I would show him the beautiful gardens in Stanley, the orchards and great trees. There is such a variety of plant life in Indigo shire with the variable altitudes and soil types.
What book are you reading?
I'm reading ‘Gentleman Jack’ about a remarkable Yorkshire woman called Anne Lister – a nineteenth century diarist, landowner, industrialist and probably the first ‘modern lesbian’.
