Welcome to Series 2 Episode 1 of Destination Boarding. We’re here to demystify Australian Boarding schools and dig around into how they can become part of your families’ journey, or take a trip down memory lane if you’re an ex-boarder.
In this episode we’re chatting with Bec Austin.
Bec and her husband Andrew are the 5th generation of a family farming partnership on the western plains of NSW. They have three children, the eldest of whom is beginning boarding school next year and you’ll hear in this conversation the considerations that accompany the decision making process for Bec and Andrew around choosing the right school for their children, the emotional heaviness that can be part of that and some of the terrible situations that arose for families during covid and border closures.
The really interesting thing about Bec’s perspective on all of this is that she grew up 600km south west of Katherine in the Northern Territory. Bec was raised alongside her three siblings on Riveren, a cattle station a long way from anywhere. As she says, it was a glorious upbringing. Totally free and familiar.
We chat about her early years growing up and being part of the largest classroom in the world, School of the Air. We talk about her parent’s decision to send their four children to boarding school in Sydney and the heartfelt honesty about separation and then fitting in in a foreign environment.
Bec is a wonderfully open woman about to embark on her own years at boarding with her family and it was really interesting to hear her reflecting on her years at school. Enjoy.
