MLC Profiles
Methodist Ladies' College employs more than 250 staff. Here, a few of our staff members share their favourite things...
Kate Padman - Head of Science
1. Number 1 on my list is of course my family, my husband Andrew, our three children and our dogs, Charlie and Madeline. As Andrew and I are both scientists, we were not surprised that our children pursued careers in this field. Our eldest daughter is an engineer in the oil and gas industry while our second daughter is a nurse currently working in a remote community in the Northern Territory and our son is studying nanotechnology. I am very proud of them all.
2. These gnomes, which are kept in my office, represent the group of MLC girls I looked after as Head of Year. I took them from Year 8 through to Year 12 (1999) and the gnomes are from their muck-up day. Each student provided two gnomes and approximately 250 to 300 gnomes were placed throughout the campus on their last day of school. It was great fun on the day to see how creative the girls could be with the placement of their gnomes. Sometimes it is best not to ask!
3. Also on display in my office is a collection of fish ornaments that Marine Studies students have given me over the years. I am fond of them because they represent all of the students I have taught. Last year my Year 12 class gave me a huge blow up penguin who lives in the back of my classroom.
4 & 5. My greatest passions in life involve anything to do with water. I have scuba dived for the past 20 years, diving in many parts of the world including Asia and the Cayman Islands. One of my newest hobbies is kayaking - which is great because I can use it on the ocean and the river, especially the Blackwood River.
6. I have enjoyed bushwalking my whole life from the first days of being a 'greenie ' protester in the damming of Lake Pedder in Tasmania and my current project is to complete the Bibbulmun Track. I am currently walking one week each year and am looking forward to completing the Bay of Fires Walk in Tasmania with my family to celebrate my mum's 80 th birthday at the end of this year.
I love all of these pursuits because they give me peace of mind, a sense of freedom and an opportunity to observe the natural world close at hand. They are great fun too!
Barry Burgess - Grounds Team Leader
1. My family is very close knit, especially our two sons, Todd and Chadd, who both became foreign exchange traders and now work in Singapore, after completing their studies in WA.
2. My wife Cathie (pictured in number 4) is very special. She has been a Deputy Principal at a high school for the past 40 years. We have also been married for 40 years and together have built a very strong family and spent a lot of time on the family farms, in the vineyard and on the flower farm.
3. I have been in cattle all my life and this is a photo of a bull which won the 2000 Perth Royal Show Senior and Grand Champion and All Breed's Champion title. I have farmed in Donnybrook for 35 years and in Gin Gin for 10.
I specialised in Stud Limousine Cattle (from France). We have enjoyed great success in the show ring in WA with Grand Champions bulls, cows and calves over the past 30 years.
4. We had a flower business for 20 years and I am very passionate about Floriculture. We grew long stemmed roses, long stemmed carnations, chrysanthemums and gladioli for export to Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. Over that time we employed about 15 people and supplied nearly all of the florists in WA. Each year we planted approximately 200,000 carnation plants and 50,000 rose bushes.
5. I am also interested in Viticulture. We planted 40 acres of wine grapes, including Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Verdelho and Merlot, in Gin Gin in 1998. We took three vintages and one was awarded a Bronze medal at the Swan Hills Wine Show. The vineyard was established and planted by the whole family.
Pamela Grubb - Music Teacher
1. I became a Christian through my husband three years ago, and my faith in God is the most important thing in my life. This is my music folder from my church, Claremont Baptist Church.
I am the Vocal Director for the Worship Team and my role includes rehearsing the singers on Thursday nights and playing piano or singing whenever I'm rostered on for Sunday services. Chris and I are lucky enough to have a wonderful support network in our church family that looks after us and prays for us regularly.
2. Second only to God in importance in my life is my wonderful and amazing husband, Chris. He was my best friend for two years before we got together and we were married last August.
This photo is from our wedding day and we are still just as happy now and loving married life! This term we'll be coming up to our first wedding anniversary, which is very exciting.
3. Music is very important in my life and I couldn't live without it. This red dress has a special place in my heart as I wore it for my final singing recital at WAAPA, where I performed a 40 minute program of operatic arias. I come from a musical family and during my 12 years as a student at MLC, I participated in every vocal ensemble in the school as well as playing violin in the orchestra. I was one of the founding members of Barbershop and it is so exciting to be back conducting it now.
4. Spaghetti bolognaise is my all-time favourite food. I eat it at least twice a week now, and back when I used to be a picky eater it was just about the only thing I ate. I modelled for about five years after I left school, and spent time living in Sydney and London where I had to cook for myself. I ate spaghetti bolognaise literally every single night for months on end! I just love it.
5. Reading is one of my favourite ways to relax when I have some time off. These are a few of the books from my collection at home - I love fantasy and science fiction books and can read a decent sized book in two to three hours. My whole family loves reading, and when a great book comes out that we all want to read (like the latest Harry Potter book) we'll have a competition to see who can read it the fastest. I am very grateful to my parents for passing on their love of reading to their children.
Denise Spencer - Senior Laboratory Technician
1. My family are at the top of the list. My immediate family includes my husband Rod, my daughters Sharelle and Karen and our 9-year-old dog Raya. Also included in the group photo is my son-in-law James whilst the large photo is of my adorable 20 month-old granddaughter Taylor. Raya, a Kelpie Blue Heeler Cross, came from the Dog's Home. Her name means "friend" in Hebrew.
2. Travel is inexplicably linked with family as we all live in different parts of the world. This has its benefits as we often meet up in exotic locations, including New Zealand where the group photo was taken. Sharelle, Taylor and James live in Sydney and Karen is currently in Vancouver. The last two trips we have taken were to Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam and a trip to China where Karen was working as a tour leader. This was fabulous as we got to see her at work and were impressed at how quickly she had picked up Mandarin. Rod and I have travelled extensively since we were married and this has resulted in our daughters' love of travelling.
3. I adore sunsets and they are one of the reasons I like living in the West. I took this particular photograph on the Sinai Peninsular in Egypt. I take Raya out jogging at sunset, either on the beach, or close to our home. If I can tell there is going to be a really nice sky I run up to the top of Reabold Hill in Floreat to watch or photogragh the sunset. I have lots of photographs of the sunsets I have captured in different countries over the years.
4. I have always enjoyed going to the cinema and my favourite night out involves dinner and a movie. I love the cinema experience and enjoy all genres of film but particularly big blockbusters or films with great cinematography. I really enjoyed Planes, Trains and Automobiles as it made me laugh myself to tears!
5. I like to wear special jewellery that belonged to my late mother. This includes her gold bangle and a 1983 Sovereign coin set into a locket. When I wear them I feel like my mother is with me and I always take them travelling with me. I would love to pass them on to my daughters one day.
Doug Hunt - Maintenance
1. Esther, my darling fiancé is number one on my list. We met four years ago while working for a tour company in France. Esther is from The Netherlands and was working as a tour guide while I was working in maintenance on the chateaux where her tours visited. We are looking forward to getting married in November and starting a family in the near future.
2. I love restoring and riding motorbikes and I have a road bike licence. I have three at the moment, but only one-and-a-half is actually running! They include two off-road bikes and a French scooter (pictured). I am currently looking for a road bike to restore as well.
3. Esther and I have a big collection of travel books. I really enjoy travelling and have travelled extensively through Europe and been to Egypt and New Zealand. I have also lived in The Netherlands for two years with Esther's family and in France for two years. Next I would love to see more of Australia.
4. We have two female kittens, Google (pictured) and Theizé (not pictured but named after the French village where Esther and I met). They are about four months old and we enjoy having them around.
5. I have built models of all the toys I would love to own. I've made a model of the "Batavia", which is a nice link between Esther's heritage and mine, a truck and a little MG. I will also make a trailer for the truck and a Ferrari Enzo and am saving up for a big remote controlled boat. I find the craft quite relaxing, especially in winter.