Jeannette Delamoir has been with CQUni for many decades, as a Senior Lecturer in Communications, a Communications Officer and an Academic Liaison. Now she has taken on a fresh challenge as the new Student Ombudsman, ensuring that students receive fair and equitable treatment within the University.
What is your first memory?
I have a sweet, dreamy memory from when I was a toddler. My mother was very pregnant with my little brother, and my father was recovering from cancer surgery. She set up a camp stretcher on the verandah so her sleeplessness didn’t disturb my Dad. I insisted on sleeping on the other camp stretcher. We would wake up at first light and talk, just the two of us. She tells me I could identify all the bird calls.
What was a recent highlight in your life?
Starting in my new role as Student Ombudsman.
If you could solve any social issue in your community, what would you tackle first?
If mental health issues could be solved in any community, so many other issues would disappear. So many people are affected—those with the illness, as well as family, friends and associates. Resources for dealing with it are stretched, and in some places non-existent or difficult to access. And yet in spite of how prevalent it is, the stigma still persists, which makes things even harder.
What do you like to do when you’re not at work?
I’m obsessed with gardening and cooking!
Who was your childhood hero and why?
My mother, because she had done a science degree in the 1950s. Even as a child, I knew it was possible for women to achieve in non-conventional areas.
Jamie Oliver is coming for dinner - what do you make for him?
I would make something simple, French-influenced, and with produce from my own garden. Maybe a salade Nicoise with green beans, lettuce, tomatoes, capsicums and fennel and a tarragon dressing. And some local fish.
If you weren’t living in Central Queensland, where would you be?
The south of France, somehow miraculously speaking fluent French, growing green beans and tomatoes and perfecting my lemon tart!
Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met?
I bumped into the late artist Brett Whiteley on a staircase at the Tate Gallery in London in 1984. I was very surprised, which led to the following excruciating “conversation”:
Me: Oh! You’re Brett Whiteley!
BW: Yes. And who are you?
Me: Umm. Oh, just … nobody.
