There’s So Much Love Out There - Gwen Bailey

In this episode of Latitude 40 Season 2 - Stories from the Edge, Jacqui Cooper sits down with long-time Flinders Island local Gwen Bailey for a heartfelt conversation about family, faith, resilience and the deep connections that shape island life.

From her family’s early ties to Vansittart Island and Badger Corner, to working in some of the island’s earliest stores and building a life through farming, business and community service, Gwen reflects on a lifetime of stories woven through the Furneaux Islands.

The conversation explores growing up in a different era on Flinders Island, raising children while balancing work and family life, supporting others through nearly 30 years as a Lay Reader, and the quiet strength it takes to navigate life’s greatest joys and deepest losses.

Gwen also shares stories of caregiving, community spirit, island dances, family traditions and the enduring faith that has carried her through life’s most challenging moments.

If you enjoy honest conversations about island life, resilience and the people who quietly shape a community, subscribe to Latitude 40, share this episode with someone special, and leave a review so more listeners can discover these stories from the edge.

“To me, it’s just a beautiful, beautiful place full of beautiful, beautiful people.” – Gwen Bailey

If you'd like to provide feedback on this podcast, we'd welcome your comments at crew@furneauxcollective.com

Transcript

Jacqui Cooper:

Welcome to Latitude 40, brought to you by the Furneaux Collective. This podcast celebrates the heart, soul, and history of the Furneaux Group, told by the people who call these islands home. Here we share stories of island life, of resilience and connection, of land and sea, of old ways and new beginnings. From the windswept shores to the heart of our communities, each episode captures a piece of what makes this island life so unique. So, islanders and visitors alike, settle in and join us as we explore the stories that shape the spirit of the Furneaux Islands. One voice at a time. Hello and welcome to Latitude 40. I'm your host, Jacqui Cooper. Thank you so much for joining me.

Today's conversation is with someone whose life story is closely woven into the history and heart of not just Flinders Island, but also Vansittart Island. Her family connections here stretch back generations. Her family was born on nearby Vansittart Island, and her father was part of the Robinson family from Badger Corner. As a young woman, Gwen worked at Bowman's store, cycling several kilometres along Coast Road in wind, rain, and sunshine, just to reach the corner where she could catch a lift into Whitemark with Bill Riddle. Not long after, in 1962, she began working for Don Bailey in the island's first self-service store in a building many of us know now as the Tav Shack. That job would change the course of her life. Gwen and Don soon began courting and were married the following year. Together, they built a life that combines business, farming, family, and service to their island community. Beyond family and business, Gwen also gave nearly 30 years of service as a lay reader, leading church services, visiting people in hospital, and helping families farewell their loved ones. Gwen's life has held great joy, deep commitment, and also moments of profound loss. Yet through it all, she remains someone known for her strength, faith, humour, and kindness. Gwen, thank you so much for joining me today.

Gwen Bailey:

That's lovely, Jacqui. Thank you. I'm just so excited to tell my story, and it's a real pleasure to be here.

Jacqui Cooper:

That's fantastic. So, Gwen, your family connections to these islands go back a long way. Can you tell us how your mother's family first came to live on Vansittart?

Gwen Bailey:

Yes. The fellow who was running Vansittart, Alec Ross, he wanted a companion for his son, young Alec, and he went to Hobart to an orphanage to find a young lad to come and be this companion. He found my grandfather. So he brought him to Vansittart and he grew up there, being a friend to young Alec, and later working for Alec around the farm as well.

He met my mum, who at that stage was living at what we used to call Possum Bay at Harbour. It's now White Beach, and there was a home there where the Wests were living. Grandma was Gladys Ivy West. She met grandfather, and they got married and went to Vansittart to live. They had eight children. The first little girl, Auntie Mary, was only four when she died on Vansittart, and her grave is still there. She died with what we would call gastro. She got very dehydrated and they didn't know what to do. Just a little four-year-old. Her grave is over the back of Vansittart facing Cape Barren, where they used to live.

And you know, life was so tough. Grandad had to build the coffin and grandma lined it with calico to put the baby in, to bury her.

Jacqui Cooper:

How beautiful.

Gwen Bailey:

That is what life was all about. They just had to take care of themselves. The only way on and off the island was by sailing boat. And if the boat was aground, you were in trouble. Mum's brother got snake-bitten, and the boat was aground, and by the time they got him to Lady Barron, he couldn't move his legs. There was an old doctor called Dr. Connell, and they had to take him to Whitemark, but he couldn't do anything. He died. They had to be really tough back then to survive living in those conditions.

Jacqui Cooper:

Absolutely. We think we're isolated here at times, but it's nothing compared to what it was back then. So, Gwen, your father's side was the Robinson family from Badger Corner.

Gwen Bailey:

Yes. The Robinson house was the house where Maureen Riddle lives now. And there was a church built there as well, the Robinson family church. As the family grew up and left Badger Corner and moved down the Coast Road, the church was given to the community and moved to Lady Barron.

By horse and logs, I think. I don't know how they did it, but the church in Lady Barron was the church at Badger Corner. Isn't that amazing? And that's how mum and dad met, because they used to come from Vansittart to Badger Corner to go to church.

Jacqui Cooper:

Oh my goodness. That's commitment, isn't it? So that's what brought your mum and dad together on Flinders then. Meeting at church.

Gwen Bailey:

When the Cook family left Vansittart to come to Flinders, they moved to what we call Ford Hill, just out of Lady Barron. Gail Grace has got a house there now. That's where they moved to, and I think Mum was 16. So she and Dad started up a courtship after that, played tennis and went to dances, and ended up marrying and having three children. Pearl, my sister, and Brian, my brother.

Jacqui Cooper:

Beautiful. And so what are your earliest memories of growing up with your siblings here on the island?

Gwen Bailey:

Oh, just natural fun. We had a cubby house in the trees, in a pine tree, and we had a cubby house on the beach because we live very close to the beach. Lots of swimming. In my first recollections we didn't have a car. We had an old horse called Mabel and a cart that went behind her that we used to go out and get loads of wood in, or travel to Lady Barron if need be. But we used to walk to Lady Barron to church every Sunday. Sunday school and church, the grown-ups would go to the church service, and we'd go to the Sunday school in the old hall. The hall used to be beside the church then.

Dad had an old motorbike, and I reckon I would have been five or six when he got his first car. It was a Hillman, a sort of maroon colour, I remember. It was nothing for us to walk to places, walk to visit aunties and uncles. There was an old fellow that lived across the lane by the name of George Davey. At 14 I used to go over and sweep his house out every Saturday. The broom he gave me to use was bunches of tea tree tied together on a handle. He always kept it very green, because if it dried at all it would start to fall apart. That's what I swept his house out with, for a few shillings. And Dad made me this step thing that you could climb over the fence, so many steps up and over the top, and so many steps down to get through the barbed wire fence.

Jacqui Cooper:

To get to work. But as a young lady, Gwen, you worked at Bowman's store. Was that your first job?

Gwen Bailey:

It was straight out of school. I went to work at Bowman's and I worked with Elvie, Ruth, Merle Blundstone, Mrs. Wise, Gertie Wise and Stella Hay. It was lovely. I loved working there. Back then the Aggie Bank had just settled, and we used to do orders for the people out on the farms. The buses used to call and pick up these boxes of groceries and deliver them with the children as they came home from school. Great fun. I loved working at Bowman's. Stan used to get the paper and stand there and read it every day and chat to everyone that came into the store. And Bowman's had everything, from a safety pin to a plastic chair. You could get anything there.

Jacqui Cooper:

So how did you get to work then?

Gwen Bailey:

Well, that was very difficult. I had a pushbike, and I used to ride it from Leafmoor Cottage, about 4 kilometres, to Badger Corner to catch a ride with Bill Riddle. Coming home, I'd get a ride with Lois Robinson, my cousin. I did that for the full 12 months I worked at Bowman's. Bill had a bench seat ute, and he used to get to Harry Russell's and pick Harry up, and then around the corner and pick up Lindsay Hardy. So I'd make Harry get out of the car, put Lindsay in the middle, because I had to sit on someone's knee and I wasn't going to sit on Lindsay Hardy's knee. So I used to sit on Harry's knee. No seat belts and four people in the front. I mean, you just couldn't do it these days.

Jacqui Cooper:

No, that's right. So, Gwen, prior to working for and later marrying your husband Don, he had worked in Melbourne and trained as an instruments engineer working on aeroplanes. He later returned and worked for the Aggie Bank as head engineer and mechanic. He then opened up his own business in Lady Barron, selling everything from paint to clothes and even some groceries. So in 1962 you began working for Don Bailey in the island's first self-service store, located in the building locals now know as the Tav Shack. What did it take for Don to convince you to leave Bowman's and join him in his new business?

Gwen Bailey:

Well, that's another funny story. My sister worked for Tom Langley at Island Stores, and she'd been there probably four years. Don decided he would call up home one evening and ask Pearl to go and work for him. And she was horrified. She said, how could I do that? How could I leave Mr. Langley after four years and go and work for you? Definitely not.

So Dad piped up and said, Well, Don, what about Gwen? She works at Bowman's and she has to get a ride up there and a ride home, rain, hail, or sunshine. And she's worked there for 12 months. What about giving her a chance? Don said, Oh, but she hasn't had much experience. I really want someone who can manage if I'm out delivering orders or out on the farm. But after a lot of Dad's persuasion, Don decided to give me a trial. So I took my bike in the opposite direction and rode from Leafmoor into Lady Barron, about the same 4 kilometres, and started work there for Don.

Jacqui Cooper:

And Don's connection to the island began in a pretty unique way, didn't it? With his father Lou Bailey being the first policeman stationed here, kitted out with a Harley Davidson motorcycle and sidecar. Did Don share stories of those days of the policing?

Gwen Bailey:

Yes, he did. Don had asthma as a boy. Lou was a policeman in Hobart at the time, having come from Scottsdale, and Don's asthma got very bad. The doctor said to them, you need a sea change. So Lou looked around for a transfer and saw a position here on Flinders Island, specifically to run the police boat. He took the job and stayed here for 21 years.

Don loved the Harley and sidecar. He and his mum used to sit in it and go up the road to Whitemark. But Lou wasn't just a policeman. He was great with boats, and he used to do a lot of work for insurance agencies. If someone's house burnt down or something had to be inspected, they'd get him to go and give a report. He was also the health inspector, so he used to go around the Bird Islands and check things out. And Grandad Tuck, on Dad's side, he did a mail run to Cape Barren twice a week in his boat.

Jacqui Cooper:

Right. And Lou did too, I imagine. If there were accidents, they'd have to attend. So, Gwen, while you were working for Don, you began dating and soon after married. What were those early years of marriage like as you and Don began building a life together?

Gwen Bailey:

Well, I was only young, not much over 18, but we did get married young in those days. When I had David, I managed to take him to the shop with me. He walked at eight months, Jacqui. He used to get in amongst the bananas and the oranges, all mixed up in their boxes. So we ended up with a play pen there, a big rug in it. But then we had the problem of people coming in and feeding him chocolates. Anyway, I survived that. I really loved taking him to work. I wanted to be a mother that looked after my own child.

But when I fell pregnant with Greg, I said to Don, this isn't going to work. I can't manage two here in the shop. So we decided to sell the shop. But before that, we had a big Nissan shed up behind the shop, and that was chock-a-block with groceries. We used to fill the self-service store every morning from that shed. Don would go up, look around the shelves in the shop, go up to the Nissan shed and bring down whatever was needed. He was so entrepreneurial. He used to even get watches through Norfolk Island so he didn't have to pay the high tax on them.

Jacqui Cooper:

So it sounds like you and Don were enjoying life, even while working hard and juggling children. I heard you were often off to dances and known to finish a night of dancing with a Baileys Irish Cream. Can you paint us a picture of those dances and the fun evenings and the people who were there?

Gwen Bailey:

Well, the dances were great. Quite often once a fortnight, sometimes once a month. There was a picture theatre as well, but I'll tell you about that after the dances. I loved Elvis Presley, and I learned to dance on the deck at home on the veranda, doing rock and roll with a straw broom. So we used to go to all the dances. If there was a dance, we'd be there.

They were held in three centres: the Emitta Hall, the Church Hall at Lady Barron right next door to the church, and the old GAC Hall at Whitemark, which is now Carol Cox's big garage. Sometimes Walter Bryant would play with his old gramophone, and in later years there was a local band. Dad and Ernie Cook and Alfie Cook and Ellis and Trevor Maynard used to play guitars. They'd all get together and we'd have this great music, the old barn dances and Pride of Erin and waltzes and foxtrots. Great times. Good fun.

The picture theatre was the building that's now in Whitemark belonging to Klaus. Back then that building was on the opposite side of the road, next to the church. That was our picture theatre, run by Leedham Walker, and he used to have pictures every second Saturday night, fitting in with the dances, which were always on Friday nights. You'd sit on these old wooden seats, buy lollies and cordial at half time. A lot of great movies came through that old hall.

Jacqui Cooper:

Oh, I bet. I wish we could do that again now. That would be so much fun, wouldn't it?

Gwen Bailey:

I think there was more activity back then, with people getting out to those things than there is today. The introduction of television on the island really created problems with the dances and the pictures.

Jacqui Cooper:

I agree. So there's a wonderful story about Don waking you at six o'clock one morning with a new idea. Can you tell us what happened that morning and what his plan was?

Gwen Bailey:

Don could think of things to do at the blink of an eye. We were on the farm then. We'd bought the Aggie Bank house that they sold because they wanted to split the farm up and give a block to each of the three farmers on the opposite side of the road: Melroy Brown, Jimmy Nelson, and Eric Henwood. We bought the house for 4,300 pounds. The house, a barn, a shearing shed, and fifteen acres. And he was developing all the land opposite that we'd bought from Crown Land.

Anyway, this day he came home and said, I don't know what we're going to do. And I said, what do you mean? He said, the price of stock has gone down. All we can get for our good steers is $73 a head. And today they're worth two and a half thousand. We've got this loan to pay back. I've got to think of something. And I thought, well, he certainly will.

So we went to bed that night and he woke me at 6.30 in the morning saying, Gwen, Gwen, I've just thought of what I'm going to do. I said, oh, what's this? He said, you and I are going to get up there to that barn, block one end of it in, concrete the floor, and I'm going to sell tractors. He started with the John Deere, sold a couple. Then he heard about the little brown and white David Brown.

So we blocked the end of the barn in and concreted the floor with the old hand concrete mixer. He started selling these tractors, and once he got into the David Brown, he sold 88 of them on Flinders Island. That's incredible, and thank goodness for the soldier settlement scheme because it was a lot of those farmers who bought them. Jim Ludington had two, and David Blunstone had two because he used them for his haymaking.

That was the beginning of what he decided to do to get us out of trouble when the land prices were low. And it didn't stop there. As time went on, he decided this business side of things was pretty good. So we cleared the bit of land behind the house and started a workshop. We put up two bays, spare parts, and an office to begin with. By that time David was almost ready to leave school and he wanted to be a mechanic. But Mingo came and worked for Don first.

Jacqui Cooper:

Really?

Gwen Bailey:

Mingo, yes. He was a great diesel mechanic. By then we had lighting plants everywhere, and he used to do all the fishing boat work. So Mingo and Don would be down there working on all the engines in the fishing boats, keeping them going to sea to get the fish.

Jacqui Cooper:

I imagine with the soldier settlement, there would have been a lot of lighting plants too.

Gwen Bailey:

Definitely, because we had no power. So he used to sell Lister and Petter plants, install them, and get them going. Back then, you know, builders did a lot of things themselves and mechanics did too. It was just how they were.

Jacqui Cooper:

Gwen, I have heard a story about Don driving an old tractor down Pickford Hill and the brakes failing. Do you remember Don telling you about that hairy experience?

Gwen Bailey:

Yes, I do. I don't know what sort of a tractor it was, but he started to go down that slope and the brakes just weren't working. He had to just keep driving because there's that corner at the end of the hill. He had to drive it around. I think his heart was up in his mouth. He was balancing on very, very good luck to get around that corner.

Jacqui Cooper:

It's a little ironic that the brakes failed for the mechanic driving.

Gwen Bailey:

He may have been taking it out to the Aggie Bank to work on it. I reckon he was taking it somewhere to do work on it. Perhaps it needed the brake work.

Jacqui Cooper:

Obviously. So while Don was running the machinery business, and you helped manage the farm with his father Lou, what do you remember most clearly about that time?

Gwen Bailey:

Putting out the hay. We had square bales in those days, hundreds of them. My job was loading the ute with 30 bales of square hay. We might have to do three or four trips and take them out and throw them over the fence to the stock. I was doing this one day, Jacqui, and I lost my wedding ring.

I'd lost a bit of weight after having the two boys, and it must have been loose. Throwing out the hay over the fence, and it wasn't till that night I got home that I missed it. We went back and searched that fence line. Never found it.

So I used to do that, yes, and we used to move the stock. We had two farms, what we called Domaloo 1 and Domaloo 2, and we used to move the stock quite often from farm to farm, 4 kilometres down the road. It was always Lou and I that moved them down the road. He would drive the ute and I would walk.

Jacqui Cooper:

So, Gwen, do you recall the day you were involved in a little bit of an incident on a boat in Lady Barron? I hear that you may have got a little wet.

Gwen Bailey:

That was one of the Three Peaks. This must have been one of my children telling you this story. We had a Haines Hunter at that stage, a 25-foot Haines, and Don had taken people out for a bit of a run around to see some of the boats coming in. I was support crew for one of the boats and had been up the road, so I got back down to the wharf. Don came in and yelled to me, could I go down the main wharf and get aboard Leacox's boat and take a line for him? Because the boats were tied up and there was no space for him to get in alongside the wharf.

So I went down the main wharf, looked at Leacox's boat, and thought, oh, that's fine. The tide was high. I didn't have far to jump off the wharf onto the deck. So I jumped onto the deck, onto what I thought was a black rubber mat, but it was actually a black rubber mat over the crayfish well, and I went straight through into the well with the crayfish.

I was floundering a bit because I'd hurt my left ankle going down. The police boat was tied up on the other side of the wharf, and a policeman, Lee Stanley, saw it all happen. He came rushing across with a bucket of ice, got me up onto the main wharf, sat me on a stool and plonked my foot solidly into this big bucket of ice. I was wet right up to the armpits. And you know, the ambulance is always there on Three Peaks Day. I was the only patient in any of the Three Peaks races. Experience makes you wise.

Jacqui Cooper:

So family is such an important part of your story. Would you like to share a little about your children and grandchildren, and perhaps some of the moments that have been especially meaningful along the way?

Gwen Bailey:

Well, we had four children. David was the eldest, then Greg, then Julie, and then Melissa, who was 11 years younger. David was 14, Greg was 12, and Julie was 11 when Melissa was born. So she was like a second family in a way. I'd given everything away and had to buy a bassinet and a pram and all that gear all over again. But I always had babysitters. If Don and I still wanted to go out to a dance or a party, we had good babysitters. David was a marvellous babysitter, and Melissa just adored him.

And then as they got married, we ended up with eight grandchildren. Each child had two. David had a boy and a girl, Greg had two boys, Julie had a boy and a girl, and Melissa had two girls. So it evened out nicely, four boys and four girls.

Great times. I did a lot of babysitting. With doing the bookwork for the firm, I was able to babysit Tara and for David. I had Sam and Brandon quite a bit, but as you know they had health issues, the boys. And then Ella and Lucy, I was able to have those while Melissa was working. I think that's great for a grandparent. It really brings you back down to earth again, to have your grandchildren in the house. It keeps you young, to be able to read to them, to be able to dance with them. And there's always that old saying: you can give them back when you're ready.

Jacqui Cooper:

So, Gwen, you served the Flinders Island community as a Lay Reader for nearly three decades. What first inspired you to take on that role, and what kind of training and support did you need along the way?

Gwen Bailey:

Well, I'd always gone to church, even as a small child. It was always the family thing. My faith built over the years, and I did teach Sunday school at one stage when I was about sixteen or seventeen. Then there was a minister here, and we were having problems raising money to keep a minister and pay that stipend. He said a time may come when you may not have a full-time minister, and we need some Lay Readers. He talked Jan Henning and me into it.

We used to go away to the Grammar three or four times a year, whenever the kids were on holidays so we could stay in the Grammar accommodation. It was always weekends. People from all over Tasmania would come to do this training. The ministers would be there and they'd form you into groups, and you'd choose what you wanted to learn. I learnt about funerals, giving communion, visiting people in hospital, and of course we had a lot of Bible study. After a couple of years, Jan and I became Lay Readers together. I've got beautiful photos of us getting our gown and our medal, because that's what it was back then. We don't wear them nowadays, but back then we always wore this gown with the medal round our neck.

I took church services, but my greatest love, and it seems unusual to say this, was to do the funerals. Because I always thought of the people left behind. Knowing everyone so well, I could talk about that person, but I could also look after the ones left behind because I knew them as well. Jan and I both started doing the funerals, but she gave it up some time ago. I did it for 29 years. I had people like John Cooper, your dad, when I did Mrs. Fowler's at the Emitta Church, and he said to me, I want you to bury me. So did John Chapman. And of course I've retired now, and John's still going strong, which I'm very glad about.

Jacqui Cooper:

Well, you were at school together, so it's going to be a toss-up, isn't it?

Gwen Bailey:

It is going to be a toss-up. But I was very fortunate to be able to do Jan's funeral because she'd asked me. We'd made a sort of a joke of it: if you go first, Jan, you bury me. And she'd say, if you go first, Gwen, I'll bury you.

Jacqui Cooper:

It's really powerful. So how did those experiences shape you personally, do you think, Gwen?

Gwen Bailey:

Well, I think they made me stronger. Before the funeral, I'd visit the family two or three times, and I think that would get me to a place where I knew I could do it. I knew I could go to the funeral that day and get through it. By going and visiting the family and having tears with them, I think over the years it's made me really love people. And it's strengthened my faith.

When David had his accident, I thought, we'll never get over this. But I think it's my faith that gave me that strength. And of course there was that eagle that day, that landed on the car. It came out of nowhere and landed on the windscreen. I wasn't driving, I was sitting in the passenger seat. Cherylie Ray, my cousin, was driving, and Julie was in the back. We were heading along the road towards David's house. It came and laid on the windscreen, she pulled up, and it wrapped its wings around the windscreen of the car, right round to both side windows. I'm sure that was a message telling me that everything's fine. It made the hair rise on the back of my neck. I think my journey with God has certainly made me stronger.

Jacqui Cooper:

And I understand there was a moment at the last funeral you conducted that made you realise it might be time to step back from being a lay reader.

Gwen Bailey:

Yes, well, the cemetery at Lady Barron has this tree that sort of grows flat across the ground. You've got to be so careful not to catch your foot in it. I went to move and my foot got under a piece of it and I thought I was going to fall into the grave. But AK was always beside me and he never let anything happen to me. He was great to work with on the funerals.

Jacqui Cooper:

Perhaps that was a little sign too, Gwen.

Gwen Bailey:

I think it was a sign. It made me very aware of my collapsing ankle, and I decided to retire from the funerals.

Jacqui Cooper:

So after so many years of caring for others in the community, it felt like a gentle and fitting moment to recognise all that you've given, and perhaps the importance of taking some time for yourself.

Gwen Bailey:

Yes. And I was glad I did in a way, because David's accident followed that. The retirement was in March, and his accident was in August. So I was glad, because I needed time. Lots of time.

Jacqui Cooper:

So I might gently shift us to a more personal chapter of your life, Gwen. Later in life, Don became quite unwell. Can you share a little about what was happening for him during that time?

Gwen Bailey:

Yes. Don, like a lot of men, had an enlarged prostate, and back then we didn't have private health cover. He was on the waiting list for the procedure. We were calving at the time, and the call came through that his name had come to the top of the list. He told them he couldn't go because we were calving, which put him back to the end of the list. He didn't tell me about that call.

The first thing I knew was that he was unwell, and he wasn't telling me. He was having breakfast and then going behind the garage and losing it every morning. He was nauseous. He had an accident at work, was flown out to Launceston, and they found that his kidneys had backed up with fluid. They put him immediately onto dialysis in the renal unit there.

He came right to a certain extent, but had to stay on dialysis. We chose to do the peritoneal training so we could bring it back to Flinders. So I did the training at King's Meadows in the renal unit. We both had to learn it. The nurse there, Rose, could not make him understand that this was a crucial moment in his life. She came to me and said, Gwen, I can't make him understand that his kidneys are failing. What can I do? I thought about it and said, Rose, he sells pumps. Talk to him about pumps. Our heart's a pump, our kidneys are a pump. Talk to Don about pumps the same way he'd talk to farmers about pumping water to their cattle. And she did that, and he understood straight away.

So we did the training at King's Meadows, which took six weeks. Because we were coming home to Flinders where we really had no backup, since the hospital didn't know much about the peritoneal side of dialysis, we had to be completely self-sufficient. And he was on that for four years.

Jacqui Cooper:

And in 2006, you gave Don a truly remarkable gift. Do you feel comfortable sharing with us what that was?

Gwen Bailey:

Well, he didn't want me to do it. I said to Rose, I'll give him a kidney. We had talked about transplants, but there was a long waiting list. At that stage, I was one of the first women in Tasmania to do this. There were four of us who went to Melbourne and gave their husbands a kidney. You had to be compatible, and normally it was a sibling or a parent, never a wife. I did all the tests and found I was compatible. And I said, I'm doing this.

So we went off to Melbourne in August 2006 with Molly and Melissa as our carers. We had to have carers, so they came with us. We had the transplant.

Jacqui Cooper:

What a beautiful thing to do for your partner. And for a while you were both managing his health so well, but sadly things later took a turn and you lost Don.

Gwen Bailey:

Well, what happens with a transplant is you have to be on anti-rejection medication, starting at a high dose that's weaned down over time. Something went wrong with Don and the specialist in Tasmania, and he got really, really sick. I rang the specialist and said, Don's really sick, I'm sure it's something to do with his medication. And they said, no, no, we've looked at his medication, that's fine. Even the doctors here agreed. In the end, he was flown out. He was so ill he could barely walk, and he was still on the full dose of anti-rejection medication. It had put ulcers on the kidney I gave him.

So he had to go back on dialysis. But in the time he had my kidney, we took many, many trips around Australia. We did a boat cruise out to Vanuatu, and that was funny because Baxter, who supplied the dialysis machine, rang me and said, Gwen, you're Don's nurse and you're taking him on this cruise. Have you thought about what might happen if the boat's rolling with the swell? The machine might not work. And I said, oh, I hadn't even given that a thought. Tell you what, put in some spare line and I'll hang it on the back of the door of the cabin and we'll be fine. And we did the cruise. They put in the spare line and we never had to use it, because the trip was fantastic. Every day was calm. We had the most wonderful fortnight out there on the ocean, because he loved the ocean, he loved the sea.

Jacqui Cooper:

Beautiful memories. So one of the most important parts of life is the people we hold close. Gwen, your elder son David was deeply involved in the family business, and I understand you shared lunch together most weekdays, a special time to connect and hear about each other's day. His passing in 2024, in such tragic circumstances, was a devastating loss for you, your family, and the wider community. If you feel comfortable, could you share a little about that time for you and your family?

Gwen Bailey:

It was a very hard time. Because David was the leader of the pack, so to speak. When Don died, David fell into that role. If anyone in the family wanted a car, they'd go to David. What car do we need, David? Can you find one for us? Even the grandkids in Hobart have rung David and said, Uncle David, we need a car. In the business, he was incredible. He was like Don in that way. I could do the bookwork, but that kind of sales side of things, with agencies like Stihl and Honda, going to all those conferences and dinners, he did all of that once Don passed away, he and Marguerite.

But you know, if anybody had a birthday, he'd say, that's all right, we'll have a barbecue at home, we'll have the party up there. Or, we might go to the Mountain Seas this time. At the moment we're a bit like a boat without a rudder.

Jacqui Cooper:

I do remember David fondly, always with a smile and time for a chat.

Gwen Bailey:

He was a bit of a devil. He could torment and he could play pranks. He used to play pranks on Ella and Lucy. They used to walk in from the bus stop and choose to walk past the workshop, and he'd watch the clock, hide behind one of the shed walls, and go tearing out at them. Sometimes he'd have something over his head. He was a real larrikin in lots of ways.

Jacqui Cooper:

So much fun for them. So, Gwen, over the years that you've lived here, there must have been many people who have shaped your life. Are there one or two that you haven't mentioned yet that really stand out to you?

Gwen Bailey:

Well, one of the most important people in my life was my grandmother, Grandma Cook. She was just a wonderful person. Granddad had died when I was only young, and she'd ring me up and say, Gwen, could I come and stay with you for a couple of days and just be there with the children? And I'd put Julie into another bed and fix the bed up for grandma. She was a wonderful person with wonderful advice. I guess mum was the same, but I think I could talk to grandma more freely.

And Grandad Tuck, he was just wonderful. I remember sitting on his knee and him telling me about the old shipwrecks. I remember one he told me about that had horses on it, and I cried when he told me about the horses squealing as the boat was going down. There have been lots of people in my life that have given me strength and encouragement and wisdom and love.

Jacqui Cooper:

I think love makes the world go around. Absolutely. So what is it about Flinders Island that has kept it home for you all these years?

Gwen Bailey:

Well, I love the lifestyle. Where else could you go to bed at night, leave your window open, your door unlocked, your key in the car? And you walk down the street, everyone waves, everyone sings out. I've been around to other places. Bruny Island, for instance, is very much like here. But I'd never leave this place. There's so much love out there, so much friendship.

You take the bushfires. How does everyone pull together? They may not talk to their next-door neighbour very often, but you take a bushfire and everyone is there together. All the women doing the cooking to serve the men that are working so hard. It's an amazing place. To me it's just a beautiful, beautiful place of beautiful people.

Jacqui Cooper:

Gwen, thank you so much for taking the time to share your story with me today. Your life is a beautiful reflection of the spirit of these islands. From your family's deep roots stretching back to Vansittart Island and Badger Corner, to the life you and Don built together here on Flinders Island, raising a family, farming the land, and creating a successful business. You've also given so much to this community through your service as a lay reader, quietly supporting people through some of life's most meaningful and difficult moments. And your story reminds us of the strength that comes from family, faith, hard work, and service to others. Thank you for sharing your memories, your humour, and your wisdom with us today.

Gwen Bailey:

Thank you, Jacqui. It's been wonderful, wonderful to tell my story.

Jamie West:

We acknowledge the ancient history of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people as the first people of Lutruwita, Tasmania. This episode is recorded on the lands and waters of the Furneaux Islands. We recognise the continuing spiritual and ancestral connections of Tasmanian Aboriginal people to these islands. And we honour the strength, resilience, and living culture of Aboriginal people today.