As
a small boy I wanted to be an Army Officer. I wanted to go to the Royal
Military College, Duntroon.
Youthful exuberance and a love of playing football saw my school results
in a bunch of B’s rather than A’s – so, no Duntroon.
In filling-in three years until old enough to apply for the Officer Cadet School, Portsea (OCS), I joined the CMF (today’s Army Reserve). Here I rose to the rank of Sergeant and received a favourable recommendation for OCS. I also put in those three years in the misery of working for a dullsville, indoor Commonwealth Bank.
Accepted for OCS, I graduated in Dec 1969 and after initial Corps training
held two unit command postings, two sub-unit command postings, a Senior
Instructor at the Army School of Transport and one administration posting
– a highly prized series of command positions and quite unusual.
This service gave me a great understanding of self-discipline and inter-personal
relationships to allow people (soldiers) to get reward for their efforts.
I discharged in January 1980 with the rank of Captain, qualified for Major,
to start a new life in the peace-time environment.
First married in 1972 and have two loving children from that marriage
(they each have two children now, four grandkids). The marriage didn’t
survive and sadly, neither did my former wife, killed in a vehicle accident
a few years later when my kids were nine and six, and some two months
after a second marriage. Children weren’t on the program for wife
number 2 and that was over some years later too.
Being a single dad with two kids necessitated a career change from a sports
instructor, as I then was (scuba diving, windsurfing, charter boat operator
on the Great Barrier Reef out of Townsville), to a more consistent income.
I had become one of the most senior scuba instructors in Australia for
the Federation of Australian Underwater Instructors (FAUI) and was on
the national Board of Examiners for new instructors and the Standards
Committee, as well as Qld State president.
I entered the financial planning industry in September 1985 in Townsville,
returning to the Sunshine Coast in Dec 1986. Remuneration was by commissions
only so life was a temporary struggle while a client base was built. In
the early years I raised my kids on a single parent pension and credit
card debt, knowing that better times were ahead. And with perseverance,
they were. I sold my business on the Sunshine Coast in December 2008 and
was delighted to extinguish my kids’ mortgages and set myself up
for retirement.
During those business years I employed up to six staff at the height and
managed investments valued at around $100m on behalf of clients. I served
several years as a Consultant Rep on the Dealer’s national executive,
wrote financial articles extensively for professional publications, served
on industry Branch committees and delivered papers at various national
and state conferences.
Damian and Maurice share a beer and
some cricket stories with Neil in St Kitts
My first Lexus entered my garage only after passive income would meet
the repayments. But I did graduate to a BMW 1000cc motorbike many years
ago – a boy has to have some toys! Having missed out on military
travel (probably fortunately in hindsight, although disappointing at the
time), I have seen lots of overseas trips since 1980.
Eighteen months of “retirement” had been relaxing, allowing
travel, photography, new learning and surf competition training for national
and international events. But the mind was very restless, a new challenge
needed
Community
positions included;
•
committee member (3 years), Australian
Institute of Management, Sunshine Coast Branch,
• committee member (2
years), Planning and Resources Committee, Sunshine Coast University
• president (2 years),
Go Mooloolaba Chamber of Commerce
• president and secretary
(3 years), Financial Planning Association, Sunshine Coast chapter
• national director (3
years), Vector Financial Consultants
Young Dancers in Istanbul share
some Islamic culture with Neil
Fun activities have included;
•
working as a scuba instructor
for three months on the Sinai’s Red Sea, then a season at Club Med
in Cancun,
Mexico,
•
converting from the bureaucratic, non-profit world of the military to
the hurdy-gurdy of entrepreneurial business
and establishing a significant financial planning business that grew without
debt funding or advertising
(not even Yellow Pages),
•
two field trips to the Great Arab Revolt Project in Jordan
(conflict archaeology study of the Hejaz Railway
and the Lawrence of Arabia escapades),
•
attending photography workshops in Rhodos (Greece), the Yucatan (Mexico)
and a cruise ship around the
Caribbean,
•
researching the Sinai Palestine WW1 campaign and Australia’s
involvement in this under-reported victory.
I presented a paper at the 2009 Australian Historical Assn annual conference
on Lawrence of
Arabia and the Anzacs and have had a similar article accepted for the
T.E. Lawrence Society Journal
(UK),
•photographing
the Miss Bonaire (Dutch Antilles) beauty pageant for five weeks in 2010,
•
travelling at different times to Thailand, France, Spain,
Switzerland, Monaco, England, USA, Mexico, Belize,
Guatemala, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Italy, Corsica, Greece, Germany, Austria,
New Zealand, Singapore,
Hong Kong, Fiji, Israel, Dubai and several islands of the Caribbean
•
competing in the World Masters Surf Lifesaving Titles in Italy 2004, winning
a gold medal in the ski relay in
the 2006 Worlds and the 2010 Worlds in Egypt,
•
scuba dived some of the best sites in the world including
our Great Barrier Reef fairly extensively, the Red
Sea (Sinai Peninsular), Cozumel (Mexico), Curacao and Bonaire (Caribbean),
•
twice being a volunteer at Vaughan Town, a school for Spaniards
wanting to learn English in Spain,
•
having several of my travel and military history
stories published internationally and nationally,
•developing
racial, cultural, religious and ethnic understandings from mixing with
the locals in those countries
visited and avoiding 5-star hotels, all the while developing a better
understanding of “self”,
•
a relationship with a wonderful lady who bore twin sons in 1994 (we’re
all still mates), a third marriage and
divorce (we’re still mates too), and a recently ended five year
partnership with a young lady 27 years
younger (we taught and supported each other to higher levels of understanding
and success, and
are now both prepared to move on with respect and love) – people
come together for a reason, season
or lifetime.
My current interests are assisting people find greater success, surfing, sailing, photographing “people in their places”, travel writing, continuing the military history project of the Sinai Palestine campaign from WWI, inspirational writings and collecting quotes.
Have I enjoyed success? Damn right I have! And the journey continues.
Have
I enjoyed success? Damn right I have! And the journey continues.
My current interests are assisting people find greater success, surfing, sailing, photographing “people in their places”, travel writing, continuing the military history project of the Sinai Palestine campaign from WWI, inspirational writings and collecting quotes.
Have I enjoyed success? Damn right I have! And the journey continues.
