Thanks for those kind and thoughtful words mate.

Hi Mrs K, what can I say about you that hasn’t already been said here and elsewhere, and is of suitable aptness. I really can’t believe it has been 20 years since I last saw you but I have thought about you and Unit D regularly with fondness over the years.

I remember process writing, term themes (crustaceans with fishing nets on the roof), lunch time gardening club on the oval bank over near the pool, daily visits from Mr Radley, that mathematics quick draw shoot out game (which I kicked ass in), our revolving mixed home class tables, fish tanks full of cane toads and grasshoppers, playing “fly” on the oval (that stick jumping game), the annual fiction story competition which Richelle White always won, googly eyes and biddy bins being forms of currency, our Tutankhamen excursion, Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes, the suite of Paul Jennings books and much, much more.

I remember your enthusiasm and passion behind all of these core and co-curricular activities, many of which only came to fruition through your generosity of time and love for education and your students.

You made learning fun and you set contextual challenges for every student helping to make each of us the best we could be. You were (are) great at teaching us how to fish as opposed to just feeding us fish. I wanted to excel for you out of pride not necessity. You were there to encourage and praise as required and you were there to remind us of core values with tough love as required.

You really are one in a million.

Congratulations on your Pride of Australia medal nomination and I look forward to crossing paths with you again one day soon.

Enjoy your upcoming American getaway!

Phil

Ps Rob, I have an equally dorky photo of Mrs K (not dorky) and I (dorky) somewhere… pretty sure I was wearing stonewash jeans too!

Steve’s wedding in Spain in June, but I’ll let you know (?), when we’re in Brisbane later in the year… Good luck and take care, Michael x

I know of the help, support and guidance that she has provided so many ‘young adults’. I say ‘young adults’ as even at the age of 10, I felt as though I was being spoken to and treated as an adult.

I moved directly from the UK to Brisbane, and I thought that it was a new and great opportunity. My grades and those of my brothers were ‘less than average’ while we were living in England, and things were pretty dire. There were difficulties with teachers and the educational system in general – we would have been lost from education the way things were going.

We arrived in Australia and to my surprise we were in a class ranging 4 grades – I thought it was normal – but now I see it was a successful experiment.

Within the time that I was in Mrs K’s class, I saw myself not only develop intellectually, but also became passionate about topics and the need to express myself, rather than be asked. In all aspects – class culture, academia, and the very special relationship that I had with Mrs. K – I was passionate, engaged, enthused, and was learning some very personal lessons about respect, honesty, and something that I did have an issue with – confidence.

I owe a lot to Mrs K, and it is more that I can put down in words, but it makes me so proud that she is being recognised in this way.

To wrap up – the right age, the right mentor, the right culture – I wish that was available for everyone – it has made me who I am – a good student, son, worker, partner, friend, and teacher to others. Thanks Mrs K.

My family and therefore the writer have known Carmen Kliendienst for thirty two years.

I first met Carmen in her hometown of Walcha in 1977 when we were residents in a small NSW, New England town, where Carmen’s parents had a very successful sheep and cattle grazing property.

You can imagine my surprise when we moved to Brisbane (Everton Park) late in 1979 and later when I commenced my Education at Everton Park State School to find Carmen a resident of Brisbane and a teacher at Everton Park State School.

In 1983 we were unfortunate to lose my elder brother Matthew in a traffic accident. Carmen added much, to the healing process of this tragic event, not the least by calling over a Friday afternoons to spend time with my mother sister and myself to bring some much needed happiness and joy into our life. Carmen has a wonderful sense of humour, no doubt inherited from her Dad Viv Partridge, a great humorist and raconteur.

As I progressed through primary school, I finally entered grade six and was very happy to find Carmen (Mrs K) was to be my teacher. It was a full two years of encouragement and learning. Showing us through those years, how to best use our many and varied talents, and to also care for and share with each other.

About the same time my elder sister was attending University in Toowoomba undertaking an Education Degree, Carmen again was a source of inspiration and help to Felicity and certainly gave my sister many guide lines to teaching which were a great help.

In 1991 my parents transferred from Brisbane to Gympie, whilst I remained at Boarding School, it was certainly a wonderful treat to be able to spend a weekend with Carmen and Dave, and be part of a family and even take my first tentative steps to obtaining my Queensland driving licence under their guidance.

Time has progressed and I am now a parent myself. The friendship and leadership that Carmen has shown me remains, and no doubt will be there for evermore.

It gives me great pleasure to recommend Carmen Kliendienst for the Pride of Australia Medal in the Care Compassion and Inspiration Categories.

Yours sincerely

Trent Lachlan Ian Bezer