Nestled into her sun-soaked corner of paradise, surrounded by a lifetime’s collection of treasured bits and bobs, one could well believe Wendy Borcher has been a part of the vibrant Tuncurry landscape forever, but in truth, Wendy has been a recent acquisition of the Great Lakes.
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After a long and decorated career with the ABC, Tuncurry was the only pace for the OAM awarded “activist archivist”, to whom ocean views have always been a highlight of life.
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“I was born overlooking Sydney harbour, then when I was studying at business college in Newcastle I lived right on Mereweather Beach,” Wendy explained.
“So when I first saw my home in Tuncurry, it was love at first sight, and that was that. I love looking out over the water, there’s always so much going on.”
A favourite memory Wendy shared was when a wooden ship came into town, and her vivid imagination leaped into gear.
“I thought perhaps it might be Captain Hook, coming to take me to Neverland,” she laughed.
Wendy spent her early years on her father’s hobby farm in the Hunter Valley, before moving to Newcastle to study at business college.
She travelled around, spending time in New Zealand and London, before settling on Sydney’s North Shore and snagging a job at the ABC, where she stayed from 1989-2010.
It was shortly after she moved to the Great Lakes in 2014 that Wendy received her Order of Australia for her significant service to the film and television industry as a researcher, producer and archivist and the preservation if Indigenous heritage.
“It was such a shock to receive the letter, I had to sit down because I got a bit weak in the knees department,” she laughed.
“I thought, “this doesn’t make sense, I’m just a girl from Sydney, what am I getting this for?” it was very exciting, the governor of NSW, David Hurley presented me with the medal at a ceremony in Sydney in 2015.”
Now, happily settling in to their Tuncurry sanctuary, Wendy and husband, Max spend their days volunteering with Marine Rescue, and Wendy, who loves to write, is involved with the local historical society.
“We absolutely love to eat out, so we have a pretty good handle of the food scene around here,” she said.
“I’ve been visiting the area since I was about three years old, and still have family living around the corner. I think it’s important to have family around.”
After working hard to get to where she is, and contributing so much to Australian history and culture, Wendy is content to stay put, enjoy watching the pelicans from her balcony with a cup of coffee, and curl up in her study to write stories.
“We love it here, and how couldn’t you? The people are lovely, the food is good, and that view… need I say more?”