Diana Kupke > Lashing out

This page is totally different to all the other pages on my site. Blame it on my son, Nick, who has been doing some gorgeous websites and my sister-in-law, Heather, who sent me some magnicent photographs of the exploding volcano. You'll need to scroll right down to the bottom of the page to find the navigation. Hope you enjoy the trip.

This site is obviously a personal one as it bears my name as the title. I write about anything that interests me which includes medical issues particularly Alzheimer's as my family is cursed with this; health areas including aged care and palliative care; design including furniture and architecture; my extended and much-loved family members; pets and animals; all those who work at the Mackay Division of General Practice; and photographs and stories about genealogy particularly as they relate to my life.

I am a member of various writing organisations, the Queensland Writer's Centre, Australian Society of Authors, and the Federation of Australian Writers however I do not have any affiliation with any political or religious groups, or with any lobby groups of any kind.

I believe everyone is equal and I believe in the humane and loving treatment of all humans and animals.

And for some brief background, I was born, Diana Mann, at the Hopetoun Hospital in Elsternwick, a suburb of Melbourne. In those days, in 1944, and as I remember it in later years, it was a two storey frail aged mansion. Today it is called the Cabrini Hopetoun, and the building is referred to as a stately Victorian mansion. Babies are no longer born there as it specialises in rehabilitation.

I spent the next twenty-one years nearby in South Caulfield where my father, Tom Mann, worked at the local depot as a tram driver. During the war years my mother, Merlyn nee Dudley, had also worked on the trams as a conductress. I went to Caulfield South Primary School and then to Brighton High School which, at that time, had only been in operation for a year or two. I spent six happy years there and cried when I left. These days the school is known as Brighton Secondary College.

I was always interested in writing and journalism and had many items published in Junior Age and in women's magazines. I read out one of my stories on ABC television during the early years on the Judy Jack show and also had items used on the Argonauts. Upon completion of my matriculation year, I was chosen to begin a cadetship at The Age after a lengthy process which involved firstly passing the final matric exam, a general knowledge exam at the newspaper, an interview with the chief of staff, and finally eight of us were interviewed by the editor, whom at that time was Graham Perkin. I was one of the four chosen to begin their cadetships in 1963.

At that time journalism was one of the few areas where women received equal pay for equal work and I covered all the areas on the newspaper with the exception of sport, thank heavens. I later worked as a journalist on The Dominion, in Wellington, New Zealand, and on the Sunday Post Herald in Hong Kong.

I also worked as a journalist for the Darwin Community College and joined the staff in 1973 about nine months before the college accepted the first students. The students arrived and the same year Cyclone Tracey also came to Darwin putting a complete finish to any xmas celebrations and wiping off the top floor of the college. The Darwin Community College, the first of its kind in Australia, later became the Charles Darwin University after having changed its name, in 1984, to the Darwin Institute of Technology.

In Mackay I worked for a weekly newspaper, Pioneer News, (which died a few years ago). From Pioneer News I moved into a totally different area when I joined Endeavour Foundation. At that time Endeavour provided schooling, training and accommodation for intellectually handicapped children and adults and included Kewarra Special School which later became part of the Education Department. From Endeavour, where I had used my journalism skills in many different ways, I then joined Kewarra Special School where the ambience was a delight.

For some years I worked part time in several jobs at once, not only at Kewarra, but also writing for Channel 7, editing for MADEC, writing for Mackay Tourism, and running Mackay Home Care, where I provided services for frail aged people and young people with disabilities, I moved fulltime to Mackay Home Care and was with them for fourteen years altogether. In typical fashion Mackay Home Care also changed its name, however as the new name is laughable I won't mention it here.

For the past three years I have worked for the Mackay Division of General Practice where I have been involved in programs relating to aged care, residential aged care facilities, and palliative care. At the same time I undertook university studies at CQU and recently gained my degree as Bachelor of Multimedia Studies.

It was during this time that I became fascinated with all aspects of websites including coding and design. Because of my past work with people who have a variety of impairments, I am particularly interested in sites which are fully accessible to everyone. I have a lot to learn about this area but am forging forward.

I came to website coding and design in my early sixties - it is never too late to strike out in new directions and I firmly believe every new interest and skill not only adds extra dimensions to life, but may even slow down the progress of mental decay. My first personal website is pictured below.

I hope you enjoy this site. I am open to suggestion and to criticism and would welcome hearing from anyone who finds any mistakes on these pages. Please contact me by email.

This page was designed on 24 April 2010 and was updated on 25 April 2010

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