Where are they now? Kate Fessey (2012)
I finished at Pymble in 2012 and in the years since I left school I have had some pretty amazing adventures both through work and play. Thanks to my work I have travelled across Australia and lived in Canberra, Darwin and more recently Alice Springs. I have also been lucky enough to have travelled to Europe, road-tripped through America, done pro-bono work in Uganda, hiked through Patagonia and backpacked through South and Central America.
Thinking back to my time at Pymble, sport was definitely a highlight for me. I played all the sports I could fit into the year and I remember the struggle of only being able to pick one Saturday sport each term. Netball, Basketball, Rowing, Touch Footy and Tennis were some of my top picks. Sport is still a huge part of my life and I still play competitive Netball and AFL. I am very jealous that Pymble girls now get to play AFL at school! I wish I got into it earlier.
After completing a Masters in Health Communications in 2017 at Sydney University, I was lucky enough to land my dream job working for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) in Canberra. Since then, thanks to my work I have had the opportunity to see much of this vast country; from tiny towns on the rugged West Coast of Tasmania, to the heart of Outback Australia, to remote islands off the coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
Throughout my time at the RFDS I worked on some amazing projects to either improve health outcomes for rural and remote Australians or make the RFDS service delivery more efficient. Some highlights included; working on the RFDS Reconciliation Action Plan to provide better health outcomes and access for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Assisting with the rollout of covid vaccinations throughout the top end of Australia, partnering with Share the Dignity to get free menstrual products out to women in remote communities, attending the National Press Club for addresses from the Prime Minister and the Rural Health Commissioner, launching a new Dollar Coin & 20 Dollar Note featuring the Flying Doctor, re-creating the first flight of the RFDS for their 90th birthday, flying in a Tiger Moth Plane across Outback QLD, taking Australian Geographic out to the remote communities to increase awareness of remote health issues, providing defibrillators to medical chest owners in South Australia, supporting the RFDS TV drama that aired on Channel 7 and attending the 2024 Garma Festival in East Arnhem Land.
In 2019, seeking new challenges and further experience I took some time off to do pro-bono work in rural Uganda with the School for Life Foundation. It was here I saw first-hand the impacts of the social determinants of health and the power of education to overcome poverty sustainably. It is no surprise living as the only foreigner in a rural East African village had its challenges and I developed a new appreciation for electricity and running water. But despite poverty, the people were some of the most generous, welcoming and resilient people I had ever met. Whilst in Uganda, I had some wild adventures including tracking mountain gorillas through the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest on the boarder of the Congo.
When I returned to Australia I moved to Darwin as I knew not only would the outdoor, adventure lifestyle suit me but that the health outcomes and access in some places in the Northern Territory are just as bad as third world countries. Being in Darwin not only provided me with so many work opportunities and experiences but I also got to live the most amazing lifestyle – every weekend would be spent sleeping under the stars, swimming in waterfalls, hiking to the top of mountains, and having cheeky dips in the croc infested ocean.
I am so grateful for all the opportunities and adventures I have had. The work of the RFDS is vital and I will forever be proud to have contributed and been part of the RFDS family.
After seven wonderful years with the RFDS I have just started a new role based in Alice Springs with Western Desert Nganampa Walytja Palyantjaku Tjutaku Aboriginal Corporation, better known as the Purple House. Purple House is a very special, innovative organisation, working to get Aboriginal people with Kidney failure back home by providing dialysis on Country in communities in the NT, SA and WA. I am very proud and excited to be able to contribute to such important work and love the new challenge and adventure.
Looking back, I am so grateful for the skills, experiences and network I have from my time at Pymble. My Pymble friends are still some of my best friends and even though we all ended up doing very different things all over Australia and the world we still talk most days and catch-up regularly. Even in Alice Springs I ran into a Pymble girl just last week!
