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     IAN FRECKELTON

 

“The life of a barrister is, and should be, a passionate and accountable life.”

I am a barrister, a Queen’s Counsel, working from Melbourne but doing cases throughout Australia. And ‘by night’ I am a Professorial Fellow of Law and Psychiatry – a Professor – at the University of Melbourne.

Two subjects that have fascinated me since the time I was at school have been law and medicine. When I studied at the University of Sydney in the late 1970s and 1980s, I did a combined Arts/Law degree. However, I decided to transfer to medicine at the  end of first year, along with a good friend of mine.  I was none too inspired by my first law subject.

All the arrangements were made, and then my friend was killed by a truck. Continue reading →

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     DONALD GORDON

“I recall a very interesting case where a funeral parlour was being operated from a home.”

I am a senior instructor and course leader for legal practice at Victoria University, director on a Victorian government board, law author and run my own law firm.

I was born in Fiji. My father grew up in a very poor rural farming community, he was very studious and bright, which saw him cross the ocean by boat to England, where he studied to be a lawyer through London University and the Middle Temple. He instilled in me the value of education and hard work.

Tragically my father passed away a few days before my tenth birthday in Fiji. Continue reading →

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     JIM MILES

“Then I will walk into town naked, just like him!”

Currently, I am on a sea-wreck hunting sabbatical.

I was born in Geraldton, but in 1980, when I was 9, my family moved to Rabaul, in Papua New Guinea, for my dad’s work. The three years that we lived there had a huge effect on me and formed the foundations of my personality.

My dad loved being on the ocean: we spent a lot of time diving, fishing, snorkelling to see the marine fauna and WWII wrecks. Rabaul was a beautiful colonial town and an adventurous place to grow up, with hills full of tunnels filled with Japanese war debris. In my explorations I’d find live ammunition, bombs; all sorts of things. Continue reading →

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     DAVID SEARLE

“As a born artist or a maker, you will become a bitter person if you don’t become who you are.”

I co-direct the Melbourne School of Guitar Making, and have my own practice building electric and bass guitars.

Although I built my first guitar in high school, my original profession was as a jeweller.

I always knew that I wanted to do something to do with the arts and crafts, so when I saw the Gold & Silversmithing course at RMIT in a year 12 university guide, it seemed like the right fit. Continue reading →

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     RACHEL FLETCHER

“I am big on not having regrets.”

I’m an events manager at a winery in Lancefield.

I coordinate weddings and conferences, which involves liaising with clients, discussing details, planning and overseeing their events.

I wasn’t sure what to do after school; I moved around, doing hospitality and sales jobs. After Year 11, I worked at a supermarket, but soon realized there had to be more to life. That prompted me to go back to school to do year 12, and then university.

I chose Sociology as my major, and then Asian Studies and Japanese as my minor, because of my father’s influence. I discovered after a year that I didn’t like Sociology: it was impacting how I interacted with people, making me over-analytical rather than social!  I ended up making Japanese my major and dropping back to part-time study.

When I was 25, an opportunity arose to go and live in Japan. Continue reading →