You may have companionship in your journey through life, but no one else in this world can experience life in the same way that you do. CHRISTINE SILINK

Hazel Jeffery has spent the past 26 years documenting the history of her local rural area. She has a very practical approach to life, and attributes family, teachers and ‘Junior Farmers‘ (now ‘Rural Youth’) as having a lifelong impact on her confidence to get things done. Life has not always been easy. Hazel left school at 15 and has lived with juvenile diabetes for over 56 years. She produced her first local history book in 1984 (before computers!) with very little help from others. Hazel still lives in Chillingham, a small village on the Far North Coast of NSW where she was born. She is currently working on a second local history book to be published in 2010 in time for the Chillingham Hall centenary.

What gave you the motivation/inspiration to follow your dream?

I think it stretched back to my very early schooldays and when I was in Junior Farmers. Both these experiences developed my learning and encouraged involvement in the community. I had very supportive school teachers, parents and a great husband. When I said ‘I’m going to write a book’, my late husband John said ‘go ahead’. My only regret was that I hadn’t learned to type and do shorthand, so the local history book project took me four years to complete.

At what point did you realise that your dream was actually possible and what was it that made you think you could really do it?

I always knew I’d complete the book project. I don’t start things without finishing them. Initially I had some support but in the end I virtually did the 200 page book myself in longhand. My school teacher Norman Baker was able to access the school archives, which were a great help. I sent out endless letters and collected and collated the information, and made hamburgers to fund getting prints made from photographs.

When I was about three years into the book a local farmer, Bob Sproule, gave me a cheque for $3000 which covered nearly half the printing. Writing this type of book can go on forever, so I drew a line in the sand and said ‘this is it’, and got it published. We presold the book, which covered the cost of the first printing run of 1500 copies. After it was finished, many people were amazed that someone like me, with a limited education, could produce a book like that.

When you were a child, what did you want to ‘be’ when you grew up?

I think I’d like to have been a school teacher and be like Lorna Baker, who taught me sewing. I really enjoyed school and when a teacher was away sick I would sometimes be promoted to ‘teacher’ and take the kindergarten kids. The Bakers were incredibly supportive.

I also wanted to be like my parents and have a happy marriage and children.

How did your childhood influence you in later life?

I grew up at Hopkins Creek on a ‘no through’ dirt road near the McPherson Range. I met John at a dance in Shepparton when I was on a working holiday with a girlfriend, and that was that. When we got married I moved 3 km down the road and I have lived here ever since. John and I went around Australia three times. Every time we came home we always agreed that this was the best place to live.

Through Junior Farmers I’d had the opportunity to learn public speaking, do judging, and attend leadership schools. This helped me to develop the confidence to achieve my goals.

There was never a ‘generation gap’ between my parents and their children and grandchildren. I have carried this forward with the way I interact with my own nine grandchildren. Young people and old people have so much to give to each other and learn from each other.

Who are your role models?

My Mum and Dad and my teachers Norman and Lorna Baker have always had a huge influence on my life. I also think Dick Smith is a great fellow. He gets on with things and speaks the same language as ‘ordinary people’.

What does success mean to you?

I don’t think about success much. All I know is that I get a lot of satisfaction from the things I do. When I finish something I just look forward and get on with the next thing. My life is centred on family, grandchildren and being a local historian for Chillingham and the surrounding areas.

What has been one of the biggest barriers you have had to face, what happened, and how did you overcome it?

As a young diabetic I experienced quite a few knocks and couldn’t travel into Murwillumbah to attend high school. In those days there were no disposable syringes and you had to have glass ones and carry a lot of testing gear. Now it is so much easier. Despite barriers like this, Mum and Dad always encouraged and supported me. Despite early regrets of not pursuing higher education, it is not something I dwell on. You have to make the best of everything. Someone once said to me ‘I don’t know how you can give yourself three injections a day’. I told them I just look at it this way: ‘Do I want to live or do I want to die?’ I just go and do it and get on with life.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? What is your vision for the future?

Hopefully I’ll still be alive and will have published my second local history book.

What would you like to say to other women who may be just starting out on a ‘Daring to Dream’ journey?

Keep going and never give up. Support young people, they are our future.