Creativity runs through Diane Marriage’s veins; however, when she was young, there were very few career options for women.
Very few women got to university or held senior positions in the workforce and the main career options were teaching, nursing, office work, or getting married.
Growing up in Rockhampton, Diane’s career began with a receptionist job in a doctor’s surgery.
“There was a registered nurse who worked there; she was lovely – she taught me what she knew, and I loved it,” Diane said.
“After about six months, I stopped working at reception and I was working with her full time. She said, ‘I think you need to go nursing’.”
Diane was keen to find out as much as she could about nursing, and she enrolled at Rockhampton Base Hospital to complete a Registered Nursing Qualification.
With a natural gift for teaching, Diane furthered her career with a Midwifery Qualification at the Rockhampton Mater Private Hospital, which led to her long-term career as an educator.
“I did my midwifery course, but there was no teacher for us – I suggested to the others in my group that we sit together for a certain amount of time every day and just go through the information together,” she said.
“What happened then was the hospital noticed I was doing this with the others, and they said to me, ‘we would you like you to run the Mater School of Nursing for us.’”
“I was only in my twenties then, but I loved the education aspect – to me, it was a real challenge,” she added.
While working full time, Diane studied a Diploma in Nursing Education, then a Degree in Education followed by a Master of Nursing, to obtain the skills she needed.
“I thought ‘I need the skills to be able to teach these people properly,” Diane said.
“My past experience was fine, but I also needed some structured experience and credentials to do a really good job.”
She moved to Brisbane, where she spent three years as Nursing Director of Education at St Andrews War Memorial Hospital, then 27 years at PA hospital as Senior Nurse Educator.
Now retired, Diane decided to leave city life and move to Beaudesert.
She’d always enjoyed art and in her retirement, she combined her love for creativity with her passion for teaching by running art classes from her home studio in Brisbane, and now in Beaudesert.
“I really am interested in people who want to draw and paint using my unique teaching process, which gives students the ability to choose and paint their own subjects from start to finish – not just copy my style, or my subjects,” she said.
“I just want to give them the skills to be able to do their own thing – they seem to be really happy with that.”
