Journal // Meet Our Volunteers
BLACK MOUNTAIN PENINSULA, canberra
Born in the small town of Lesmahagow, a place famous for its fudge and for being home to the football team that helped bring ‘The Highland Games’ to life, it’s safe to say this sweet and strong Scottish town shaped someone equally remarkable: Judith.
If you’re wondering how our Scottish pocket rocket ended up in Australia, thank her dad—the Chief Dentist for the whole of northern Scotland—who promised 9-year-old Judith a pony if she made the move with the family to Tasmania in 1965. Promise made, promise kept. Giddy up!
Judith loved riding until she ‘discovered boys’ ten years later. She went on to study languages—particularly German and French—at university, where she also met her husband, a professional clarinet player.
Together they built a life full of words and music, raised two daughters, and eventually moved to Canberra. Their girls became bilingual after attending a French school, and Judith carved out a career at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Despite growing up around yachts (not rowing boats!), it wasn’t until a friend from work invited her to try a learn-to-row course that she discovered a new passion. Cue meeting Rodney Palmer, joining BMRC, and—well—the rest is history.
Known as “the glue that holds everything together,” Judith is now just as at home in a boat as she is in her garden. She’s competed in seven “Head of the Yarra” events and spends her time volunteering, rescuing plants from redevelopments, and sipping gin and tonics in between shifts, from shed to soil.
Canberra scored big the day Judith got on board. Thank you, Judith—we appreciate you more than you know.
