Don't Be Too Polite, Girls by Wendy McCarthy

Author:Wendy McCarthy [Wendy McCarthy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781760878306
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2022-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Multi-tasking

Yes, you can have it all, but not all at the same time.

Madeleine Albright

By the end of 1989, life had become calmer. I was busy closing down the Bicentennial Authority, a task I found satisfying. I am still a teacher whose lesson plan says beginning, middle and end. And we don’t often get a chance in public life to tie up the pieces, put them in boxes and archive them. That is what we did now.

Gordon was back at the farm after his transplant, and apart from a mean dose of shingles, seemed to have only positive side effects. Hamish was in his second year of Arts at Mitchell College of Advance Education (now Charles Sturt University) in Bathurst, Sophie was doing extra subjects at the Australian National University and thinking about an Honours year, and Sam was living at home, managing his year eleven.

Quentin Bryce came to live with us, and it was wonderful to have her here with Sam and me. We had a lot of fun together. It made the change in Gordon’s and my life much more bearable. For her, it was good to live with our family as living alone in Sydney, away from her husband and children, would have been very lonely. Since our days together at NATWAC, I doubt that a week would pass without a conversation and shared experience, which made it easier for her to slip into our family life.

One would wonder now to think of the intransigence of a government that insisted the Sex Discrimination Commissioner needed to be based in Sydney. Most weekends Quentin went home; otherwise, she, Sam and I lived as a little trio in Longueville. We had many parties. It is hard to believe that when we were selling and moving out of Longueville in 1993 and 1994 Quentin was still there. What a testament to friendship that we could live together, stay in love with our husbands, keep our children out of jail, manage some major public organisations, and remain friends.

But back in late 1989, I was wondering what to do next. I was interested in the whole concept of being a rescuer for an organisation or doing another start-up. Preferably a not-for-profit in strife and too important not to save. Strangely, one found me. It all seemed so accidental.

My ex-colleague, Gaye Hart, and I went out for dinner one night and talked about what our post-Bicentennial life could look like. We met up with another friend, Deborah Marr, who had started the executive search arm of Pannell Kerr and Forster, an accounting firm. When asked what I had in mind, I said I hadn’t the faintest idea, ‘All I know is I want to be the chief executive of an organisation with good values.’ It just came out spontaneously, so things were clarifying in my mind. I wanted to grow a business. I was confident that I could do that. I was still chairing the Better Health Program and was Deputy Chair of the ABC.

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