Sunshine Coast Hinterland Times

Lorraine and David Moyes have only been on the Hinterland for five months. They retired from a busy Brisbane business life, but they are already delving into community life. From starting a 60s band to helping people get over their fear of computers this energetic couple have an eagerness to contribute.

Why did you come here?

Lorraine: Well, My profession is adult education and we owned a little boutique college in Brisbane. I taught teachers how to teach. But we felt it was the right time to sell the business. I went to work as an auditor for the government. I wasn’t enthusiastic and David was at the stage when he was tired of being an auditor too. So we both decided we would retire, but we realised we couldn’t retire in the city because where we lived was a dormitory suburb where everybody else was going to work. And it was lonely. At first, I tried doing other things like volunteer work, but the city can be so unfriendly.

We had been coming up here since we met 20 years ago, and it suddenly occurred to us on a Saturday … let’s retire to Maleny. On the Monday we came up here and bought this house five months ago today. We chose Maleny because we wanted a sense of community. Personally, I wanted to get out of the city and I didn’t want to use air-conditioning.

David: we used to come up here for years and stay at Baroon Pocket Dam or at Tanglewood Gardens. As soon as we both saw this place we said yes, this is it. We’re not particularly environmental but we’ve just put in solar panels which we would never have done in Brisbane.

What did you have to change in coming here?

Lorraine: Well, I have a need to be part of a community. It’s easy to make friends and go out socially but it’s not so easy to be part of a community. I hardly knew anybody where we lived in Brisbane and I had been there 29 years.

David: The thing I hated about where we lived in Brisbane was that it was dead. People went to work in the morning and the rest of the day there was nothing.

Lorraine: I am someone who needs to be busy every day. For example, I have been singing since I was 16 and I sang at Cloudland and Festival Hall and leagues clubs. So in coming here one of the first things I have done is to start a band. I put an ad in the paper for those who want to play 60s music – I sing Petula Clark, Sandy Shaw and Connie Francis. Now, every Friday we have rehearsal here and we have a ball.

David: I am a member of the band too. I am really only learning to play the keyboard. I also love looking after the garden but that’s not enough for Lorraine.

Lorraine: No it isn’t. My career has been about adult education and through Volunteering Australia I met Sue McCormack at the Maleny Library. Now we’re going to support their computer project at the Neighbourhood Centre. They have five networked computers in the Flexi School which are free after 2.30pm in the afternoon. So, David and I are going to teach adults who are scared of computers. We will teach them how to use the Internet, how to upload photos and send them to their relatives, or buying and selling on Ebay.

We’ve also started another new group for baby boomers called Movers and Shakers. One of the things we would appreciate as newcomers is having some kind of induction to the community. So, we will get people together who are also fairly new to the area and are in the same situation that we are – they want to be part of the community but how do they go about it? They might have wanted to join existing groups but they are already established or they may not be their age group.

David: There are also people here who want to do something, but they don’t necessarily know what they want to do. Or maybe they want to do something that’s not formalised or is not available.

Lorraine: Our group could provide all kinds of opportunities for people with common goals – say bush-walking, those who want go to the theatre, cooking in each other’s houses, those who can pass on their skills in art or sewing. So, it would become a community with tentacles, moving wherever people want the group to go. I think common goals, common values and social interests will hold it together. We’ve had one meeting already and a couple of people who’ve been here only a few months told us they still felt like they were on the edge of things.

David: I am nowhere near as big an extrovert as Lorraine. I will get involved but it won’t be all the things that Lorraine does. I will do things – I love the garden and I am starting to love music too.

What will keep you here?

David: In all the things we may do in the future, there has to be some peace in there too. One thing that was interesting – and maybe only because we’re new – within a few days of being here, the neighbours were over from all directions – come over for dinner; come over for a drink. That never happens in Brisbane where people are preoccupied with their jobs or their kids.

Lorraine: I think the solitude when you come home will keep me here. You’re in your own place and you have that beautiful view. People will keep me here too. And it’s not just to do with socialising. Some people are happy to go for coffee or to dinner. That’s good, but it’s nowhere near enough for me. I want to feel that I can contribute. I don’t need to be the boss, I just have to feel that I am an integral part of projects, and I am getting outcomes, even if that means just a smile on someone’s face after they’ve conquered their fear of computers.