NICKY Carr has lived in Yackandandah for just over 12 months but has had a long association with the region.
Growing up in Tallangatta then Wodonga, she spent time during school holidays at Yackandandah's former Storey's farmstay riding horses.
After a move to Melbourne to attend university her parents shifted onto a farm at Yackandandah.
"I loved coming 'home' to visit the farm and continue my love affair with Yack and it was always a dream to return to this area," she said.
What's your job?
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I'm a semi–retired teacher educator.
What brought you to this role?
After nearly 20 years of teaching and researching education in Melbourne, it was time to hang up my whiteboard markers, but I wasn't ready to give it away completely.
Fortunately, there are universities that teach online so the opportunity existed for me to continue to contribute my knowledge and expertise through part–time online teaching.
What do you love about your job?
I love inspiring the next generation of teachers to be the best teachers they can be.
I love challenging my students' thinking about the purpose of education and to question taken for granted practices and policies.
I love the challenge of teaching bright, highly motivated and aspirational young people who have a passion for teaching and education.
What do you do in the community?
There is so much to get involved in within the Yackandandah community.
I volunteer at the community garden most Saturdays, and I'm on the committee of the relatively new Yackandandah Women's Shed, both of which have been great ways to meet other people and make a contribution to the community.
The Women's Shed is a fantastic way to share and learn new skills, find companionship with other women and get involved in initiatives that contribute to the wider community.
What's the most important current community issue for you?
I think there are number of challenges that face regional and rural areas that are almost invisible in major cities.
But health care is probably the number one issue – the lack of GPs servicing smaller rural towns like Yackandandah results in unacceptably long wait times to see a doctor or long travel times into larger towns.
What would you do to solve, change or improve that situation?
Federal and state governments should provide more incentives to attract and retain medical professionals to rural and regional locations, as well as fund a new major hospital in the region.
What's the most important current world issue for you?
It is hard to ignore the terrible events associated with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and other conflicts that humans continue to inflict on one another, but I still believe that the impact of climate change is the most important world issue.
If we don't take drastic action now, then there won't be much of a world left to fight over.
If the person you would most like to meet came to Indigo, or was already here, who would that be and what would you show them?
I would love to be able to show my late father the land I've bought just outside Yackandandah where I'm building my house.
Why would you show him that?
He instilled in me a love of this region, this landscape and this community. He'd get a kick out of seeing me back here.
What book are you reading?
I've just finished reading Tim Winton's 'The Shepherd's Hut'.
It's a wonderful and evocative portrayal of an unlikely friendship in a brutal Australian landscape. Quintessential Winton.
