Voice it

It's an end of an era for this man.

Peter Shearer.

After 22 years at St Joseph's School in Clare, Peter has decided to step down from the top job at the end of 2024.

Peter has touched the lives of many people across the regional South Australia working in Catholic schools in Jamestown, Yorketown, Loxton and finally Clare.  
Originally from Cherryville in the Adelaide Hills, Peter didn’t care much for the classroom, preferring to be outside playing sport or working on his next-door neighbor’s cherry and lemon orchard. At one point his dream was to become a silversmith! 

In this episode you’ll hear about Peter’s early childhood, his first teaching post at St James at Jamestown - a period he describes as a baptism of fire. His posting to Yorketown where he was the first male teacher employed at the school. This was followed by his first Principal gig at Saint Alberts at Loxton, where he literally built a new school. 

This man doesn’t do things by halves. That drive and determination hasn’t waned over the last 22 years at St Joseph’s, Clare because he went on to build a middle school and made many other positive changes during his tenure.

 Peter speaks about the absolute joys of his career, what has kept him in the job all these years, but also the heartbreaking challenges that he’s experienced along the way.

Enjoy Peter Shearer’s story.

St Joseph's School, Clare: https://stjoclar.catholic.edu.au/
Wykari Wines:  https://wykariofclare.com/

To Peter, being a current parent at St Joes, it is sad to see you go, but thank you for all you’ve done in continuing to provide a strong and vibrant Catholic school community in Clare.
Annabelle  

If you enjoyed this episode please rate and review when you’ve got a chance via apple or Spotify, or simply write a short message via Voice it’s social media pages. It’s a big step for people to share their stories on such a public platform so we value your thoughts.

In this episode you’re going to meet Kate Mensforth. We all call her Miss Kate, she’s the  woman that's built a soaring business providing children across the Clare Valley and mid north of South Australia access to the world of dance.  

Kate is the brains behind the Clare Valley School of Dance offering all modes of dance ballet, jazz, ACRO, contemporary, hip hop and even ninja kids,  appealing to dancers on a recreational level but also giving them the chance to compete on the statewide stage.

Starting with 50 students in 2018 to now over 300 students, 2 campuses and  4 teachers, the business continues to grow.  

This episode takes you back to Kate’s early beginnings in dance with the Johnny Young Talent Team in Western Australia, which ignited her passion for dance and performance. She then moved to Adelaide and discovered classical ballet which took her dance career to a whole other level. You’ll hear her journey from her days at Xcel Dance Studios, Footsteps Dance Company, ballroom dancing at Dance Corp, teaching at Geelong College , meeting the love of her life, Luke, at the Havelock, and then her entry into the primary teaching world which drew her and Luke up to Clare Valley in SA’s Mid north.

But this creative journey in dance has come with some serious challenges for Kate. A couple of years into establishing Clare Valley School of Dance, Kate was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor, followed with a diagnosis of an extremely rare auto-immune condition in her pituitary which has continued to plague her health for the past 5 years. But these experiences would have stopped most people in their tracks - but not Kate.  Even during her lowest times, not once did she consider closing the doors on her beloved dance school,  in fact her determination has not wavered as she continues to live out her childhood dream and create dreams for hundreds of young dancers in the Valley. 

The words Amazing, Inspiring and Passionate are over-used in this day and age, but these words I would truly describe Kate Mensforth. 

 Enjoy!!

Clare Valley School of Dance - https://www.clarevalleydance.au/
Xcel Dance Studios - https://www.xceldancestudios.com.au/
Footsteps Dance Company - https://footstepsdancecompany.com.au/

Voice it - https://voiceit.me/

My name is Annabelle Homer, I am a former ABC broadcast journalist and presenter. I now run my own business specialising in podcasting for organisations,  voice coaching and public speaking training for individuals, groups and corporates. I also MC professional events and record and produce audio memoirs for families. Reach out if any of those services interest you. 

This episode is about a man who had a entrepreneurial seizure.  

What was a one-man-show in  agribusiness consulting, now is the Chairperson of a multi-national company called Pinion Advisory. A leading-edge national agribusiness, water and environment consulting firm with tentacles reaching across Australia and into America.

It all started in South Australia's  Clare Valley. 
 
Before Pinion, Dave Heinjus founded Rural Directions in 1997, one of the first agribusiness consultancies in the state. It started with just him and he manages over 100 people on his team.   After 23 years,  he led the merger integrating Rural Directions with 3 other Australian agri-consulting companies to form Pinion; Macquarie Franklin, Sunraysia Environmental and Hydroplan. 

In this podcast, you’ll hear his journey from his early days working as a contractor with the Department of Agriculture,  branching into self-employment with Rural Directions, the late nights, the ongoing study, balancing all that with a young family to then chairing a multi-national company.

But let’s start with Dave’s  early days growing up on the family farm on the western edge of the Barossa , a farm that he still manages.

Enjoy this journey – a journey he reflects back on and can’t believe he is where he is today.

Pinion Advisory: https://www.pinionadvisory.com/
Voice it: https://voiceit.me/

About Voice it:  
My name is Annabelle Homer. I grew up on a cattle station in Central Queensland and  now live in the Clare Valley in South Australia with my young family. Before children, I was an experienced broadcast journalist with the ABC travelling across the country reporting on rural issues, (The Country Hour) presenting state-wide radio programs 
( Late Afternoons) and reporting for ABC TV shows ( Landline and Behind The News).

I have also completed 12 years of AMEB Speech and Drama in Queensland.

I started Voice it in 2020 specialising in public speaking training which has morphed into podcasting for organisations, private audio memoirs for families, media  and interview training for organisations and MC'ing events. Thank you for tapping into Voice it and I hope you stay with me as I bring you more episodes featuring the very talented business minds of the mid-north of SA.

Welcome back to the second instalment featuring George Millington.

In the last episode you heard about George’s rise in the business world – from his early stock broking days, to transforming a humble coffee business into a successful sought after coffee brand Monjava, which was swiftly bought by San Remo. To then moving into logistics, APD Parcel Delivery.

In this episode, you’re going to hear all about the rise and rise of his rural livestock empire. Since he was a young boy, George’s dream was always to run a farm. 

"I had a feeling this was what I wanted to do, I wanted to bring my family up in the country, and Sophie did too, so we came up there and almost from the first month, just absolutely loved it."

George is the owner of Collinsville Stud Merinos – one of the country’s most well respected and prominent sheep studs in Australia.

To find out how that all came to be, enjoy the rest of George’s story.

This episode starts following his decision to leave the day to day running of his logistics company ( which he is still partly owns) to venture north into pastoral country.

Since this interview was recorded George has been elected as a board member of Australian Wool Innovation – an organisation that collects wool grower levies, markets the Woolmark label and receives co-funding from the Federal Government.  George speaks about his vision for AWI and that more needs to be done to boost marketing  of Australian wool overseas because not enough is being done.

Enjoy the second part of the journey with George Millington. This interview took place at the end of 2023.

Collinsville Stud Merinos: https://collinsville.com.au/
Australian Wool Innovation: https://www.wool.com/
Voice it: https://voiceit.me/

Today you will hear the absolute success story of George Millington.

 He is the man behind Collinsville Stud Merinos – one of the most prominent and well respected sheep-studs in Australia located in the mid north of South Australia.

George's success story begins begins with his venture into the coffee industry, where his excellent business sense and a stroke of luck made him a millionaire by his early 30s. After selling his coffee business, he transitioned into logistics, laying the groundwork to create a rural livestock empire across the mid north of the state. 

This two-part series explores George's journey, mindset, and decision-making process, starting with his roots in Adelaide, his early stock broking days, and his Monjava coffee venture. 

Enjoy the first part of the journey with George Millington. This interview took place at the end of 2023.

Collinsville Stud Merinos:
https://collinsville.com.au/
Monjava Coffee:
https://monjava.com.au/
APD Parcel Delivery:
https://apdparcel.com.au/
Voice it:
https://voiceit.me/

Meet the  super vivacious Ali Cooper, the owner of the The Park in Jamestown.

In this case Ali hasn’t started from scratch, but probably feels like she has. She's  transformed the local caravan park in Jamestown into a boutique accomodation space for travellers.

Ali is also involved in the family farming business with husband “ Seth cooper, has 3 children and is an extremely active community volunteer. 

Ali’s vision was to provide a boutique accomodation space in Jamestown to encourage travellers to stay longer in the town, to support other businesses, to turn their regional town into a bustling pace – a tourist destination.... and she is achieving this,if the reviews are anything to go by.

"What a gem, excellent caravan park; fantastic little gem, clean comfortable and convenient, outstanding comfort and welcome, great weekend away"…

So if you’re into vintage caravans, beautifully renovated cabins, impeccably kept green spaces and and a welcome grin that can rival no other, you need to book into The Park.

The Park - https://www.theparkjamestown.com/ 

 Voice it - https://voiceit.me/

Meet  Kelly Morgan, the woman behind Kelly Kelly Legal, a successful law firm in Jamestown.

Kelly grew up on a farm near Yongala, the coldest place in South Australia.  

She describes herself as an ‘accidental lawyer’,  she initially wanted to be school teacher or an architect, but it was her father that ignited the idea of law.

When Kelly graduated she had this big idea to head to Sydney and work for the big law firms but her life took an unexpected turn when her father passed away suddenly.
She headed back to the farm to help her Mum and started to work for a local law firm in Jamestown. Ten years later in 2014, she started up her own practice. 

She talks about what’s involved in running a law firm in the country, the rapid growth it underwent as soon as she opened the doors, her frustrations when people perceive country law firms as inferior to city ones and her passion to train and nurture law graduates to encourage them to undertake a country posting.

But her personal life has been a roller coaster ride as we also delve into how she navigated life after her father’s suicide, becoming pregnant with twins 4 months after starting her own practice  and then losing one. To then getting pregnant with twins 5 years later – with Max being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.

I love Kelly’s motto; Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but gets you nowhere.

I guess this has got her through the tough times but also has led her to build such a successful business. 

Enjoy Kelly’s story.

Kelly Kelly Legal: https://www.kellykellylegal.com.au/

Voice it: https://voiceit.me/
My name is Annabelle Homer. Voice it is a regional communications business specialising in public speaking/media training for individuals and groups, podcast hosting and production, audio life stories and event MC. Get in touch if any of those services interest you.

This is a delightful story about Sophie Whitehead which I played on the Clare Valley Podcast a few months ago and I loved it so much I wanted to share it with my Voice it listeners.

Sophie Whitehead's  first job  job out of college was cooking for royalty. 

In this episode, you'll hear how she came to be cooking for the Queen Mother,  and the experiences she had with not just her, but many members of the Royal family, eg. dancing with Prince Charles at Balmoral Castle. WOW!!

But the career development didn't end there, Sophie ended up here in Australia cooking for the rich and famous on super yachts and in Sydney north shore mansions.

 She’s left the rich and famous behind and has moved to the Clare Valley with her husband David.   While caravanning around Australia, they came across the Curly Goose in Sevenhill, bought it and transformed it into a gin space.

Enjoy Sophie's journey!

Sawmill Gin and Curly Goose: https://www.sawmillgin.com/
Voice it: https://voiceit.me/

In this episode, you'll meet Brian McInerney, one of the founding fathers of one of the top insurance brokerages in Australia. He’s the 'M' in MGA insurance. 

We will of course  talk about MGA’s astronomical growth from humble beginnings back in 1975 to now over 65 thousand clients and a branch network across Australia and one in Cambodia.

But we’ll also find out more about the Brian’s background, his humble beginnings growing up in Melrose with his family, his love for footy and tennis, a high school stint at Sacred Heart College to then doing an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner working for BHP at Iron Knob and Iron Baron. 

So how does a fitter and turner, end up in insurance to then running one of the biggest insurance brokerages in Australia?

 It’s an inspirational tale – you could also say it's a 'rags-to-riches' story. 

He’s now 80 years old and formerly retired and misses it like crazy!!!  But he's still got his toe in the water and  sits on the  Board.

Enjoy the journey with Brian McInerney.

Links:
Voice it:  https://voiceit.me/
MGA Insurance: https://www.mga.com/

Today you’ll get to meet the youngest Chief Flying Instructor in Australia.

George Seppelt.  

Well one of the youngest,  another bloke is about to cut his lunch apparently!

At the prime age of 15, before he could even drive independently, he had his restricted pilot’s licence. 

By the time he was 22, he was a fully-fledged flying instructor in the mid north of South Australia.

George always had a goal of getting his commercial pilot’s licence and being a Flying Doctor, but he’s had a few speed bumps and obstacles along the way.

You’ll hear about a chance encounter with the current Australia aerobatic champion who ignited is flying passion; George’s health scare that literally grounded him for 8 months – the toughest 8 months of his life and how his flying mentor became paralysed after crashing his plane but amazingly learnt to walk again. 

His big love these days is electric aeroplanes and being one of 12 people in Australia that knows how to fly on. This guy keeps on kicking goals and I’m excited to see what he does next.

Enjoy this inspirational journey with George.

------

Since this recording George has resigned from Spencer Gulf Flight Training in Port Pirie, and also instructing at the Clare Valley Aerodrome.

Good luck in what the future may hold for you George. I have a feeling, you’ll continue to make your mark in the world of aviation. 

If you’d like to find out more about me, I’m a voice coach, podcaster, audio memoir producer and MC. I have a website https://voiceit.me.

I’ll catch you next time for another Voice it episode.