Former nun details her adventures

JOAN Benbow’s working life has involved an extraordinary 62 years of nursing in Australia and in PNG.

Her fourth book, A Walkabout Life, brings the former nun’s journey together in an entertaining read that regales with the highs and lows of battling bureaucracy, ignorance, the Catholic Church and harsh climates, as she grabs hold of her many roles that regularly delivered the greatest gift of all – new life.

At 94 and “three-quarters”, Joan is a wonderful storyteller.

“I just thought it should be recorded in the annals of nursing what it was like back in the 1950s,” said Joan, who worked in remote locations in NSW, Queensland and the Northern Territory, and in three provinces in PNG. “Who else is going to record it?”

Joan has written about the out-of-the-way places she lived and some of the marvellous people she met along the way.

“I left the bad ones out,” she remarked cheekily. “It was a wonderful journey. I thank God every day that I had that experience.”

The start of the book provides a tantalising introduction: “With nursing certificates under my belt (and nun’s habit) as well as a tumbler half-full of hope and love – I set out buoyantly on yet uncharted seas, my sails at full mast! A life beyond another six decades was to follow – I had much to learn, and since then to reflect on. Enjoy the journey I share with you today, dear reader.”

Joan says the royalties from A Walkabout Life will be distributed to the Sunshine Coast homeless through St Vincent de Paul.

Copies are available by phoning 5443 5555.