COLLIE RIVER VALLEY BULLETIN, FEBRUARY 2, 2023 9
CCCCCCCCC PPPPPPP People, places and contributions to Collie life
Tamsin’s life of travel
People
ZOE HAWKS THE Collie Shire's community development officer was born in 1970 in Chalfont St Giles, a small village in Buckinghamshire, England. Tamsin Emmett lived there with her parents and two older siblings until she was 11. In 1981, her family moved to Yorkshire where she attended a boarding school until age 17. From a young age, Tamsin knew she wanted to travel and after finishing school, she saved for a year to go to Canada. When she returned to the UK, she attended the prestigious Norland Nursery Training College. Tamsin said the college housed students while they completed hospital and school training and cared for children at the college’s daycare and children's hotel. “Parents would drop their kids at the hotel and go away for a holiday while we looked after the kids,” she said. “It was quite a bizarre concept - they don’t do it anymore.” Tamsin recalled the high standards of the college. “The matron would come in the morning and wipe her hand along the top
close friend and travel companion.
The pair went to London to save before setting off to travel India, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. Eventually, they made their way to Australia. After working in Sydney for six months, Tamsin began touring Australia. “I travelled up the east coast as far as Cairns, went across to the Northern Territory, worked in Kununurra and made it down as far as Perth,” she said. She returned to Sydney before continuing to New Zealand to work on a sheep station. Tamsin returned to London but couldn’t settle after her many travelling experiences. “I didn’t go back to nannying,” she said. “When I was in Sydney, I was working with a demographic that was low socio-economic and I found it hard to go back to the opulence of working for families that had multiple nannies and a flat for each nanny, and incredible wealth,” she said. “So I signed up for an overland trip travelling from the UK to South Africa. “But the political situation in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) made it too dangerous. “We got as far as Nigeria, then we had to turn back to Ghana to fly to Zimbabwe to carry on from there in the truck.” Despite the uncertain political environment, Tamsin said she never felt fear during her time in Africa. “The only time I felt unsafe was at a particularly hostile border checkpoint in Nigeria when we were held at gunpoint and the truck searched,” she said. “This lasted for a couple hours and ended when a superior officer turned up and sprung the guards in the act of trying to extort tourists.” Tamsin spent nine months touring Africa in 1995 and was offered a job as a driver and tour guide.
Tamsin and Sean in 1997. of the door frames with a white glove, checking for dust,” she said. Tamsin’s training as a nanny led her to France where she was employed as a ski nanny in 1992. This job not only gave her the opportunity to watch the Winter Olympics, but she also met Alex Paze, who became her
JJJ’’ JJJJJ YOU can’t beat a pickled egg. ■■■ I WENT to a seafood disco last week and pulled a mussel. ■■■ JOKES about German sausage are the wurst.
By 1997, she was experienced enough to mentor a new recruit. His name was Sean Emmett, and the pair soon developed a relationship as they worked together for three months. The couple were unsure whether it was a holiday fling, and went their separate ways at the end of 1998. Sean returned to Australia and Tamsin went back to the UK. Tamsin said the time apart made
THE
Tamsin holding her original Norland uniform. a wedding in the UK, while Tamsin was them realise their relationship could seven months pregnant with their first become serious. son, Bob. The family settled in Rock“I went back to London and hated it. ingham and had another son, Toby, two I missed Sean and he missed me,” she years later. said. “So I sold everything I owned and moved out to Australia in 1999.”
The hardest part for Tamsin was leaving her family. “Sean had been very upfront that he would not move to the UK,” she said. “I knew I liked Australia, so I wasn’t worried about that - but leaving my family was something else entirely.” The strength of the couples’ relationship was put to the test when they relocated from Broome to the Bungle Bungles to run a bush camp. “Between the two of us we ran the tours, fed the campers, drove them around, we did everything,” she said. “When you work that hard with someone, you know you’re with the right person if you can do that without killing each other,” Tamsin joked. In 2001, as they prepared to leave for a European holiday, Tamsin learnt she was pregnant. Their holiday plans changed to include
When Toby was four years old, the family moved to Allanson. They have been there since.
Tamsin quickly became involved in the local community. She started with the Allanson Primary School P&C’s Pink Ladies’ group, and she helped organise annual fetes. This developed into planning town events, such as the Griffin Festival and Christmas parade. Tamsin’s experience in event planning is what led her to her current role at the Collie Shire. She currently organises events, such as the recent Australia Day breakfast, Central Park movie nights and Parkrun. After visiting five continents and countless countries, Tamsin has found a place to call home and devote herself to in Collie. “We’ve been here 15 years now, which is the longest I’ve lived anywhere so Collie really does feel like home to me,” she said.
BYSTANDER LOOKS AROUND
Nose twitcher Trying to coax a child to eat something can be challenging, as was the case when a toddler turned her nose up at being offered some sausage by her babysitter. Good thing she did, as when dad got home he was able to point out that the sausage was “for the dog”. Jibes galore The contributor of the “jibes” that
appear on this page is getting it pretty easy. He’s had a couple of suggested jibes from readers and has recently had a whole wad of them delivered to the Bulletin office. Thanks - it’ll take some time but he’ll eventually get to use the best of them. Quinella Collie Community Radio can claim a quinella in the Citizen of the Year stakes,
with the 2023 and 2022 winners, so one member remarked the station should aim for the trifecta next year. It already has three in the bag, having the 2020 winner as well, and is also responsible for producing two Young Citizens of the Year. Is there another organisation in town that can claim as many good citizens among its number?
