From making home brew at 13 to raising butterflies for charity, Ray Archer has lived a blessed life

A RETIRED Queensland farmer who is taking on an interesting new challenge says his attention deficit disorder has been a real blessing, especially in business.

RAY ARCHER,

RETIRED FARMER, 70, BRIBIE ISLAND

I was born in bayside Wellington Point [Redland City], and brought up in a religious home with three siblings. I rebelled. I hated school. I held the record for the most canings two years in a row. It was nearly every day and it hurt to hold that record, I tell you!

After Grade 10, I got a refrigeration apprenticeship and the amazing thing is, I earnt honours every year. At 21, with $180 in my pocket, a wife [Delphine, 69] and two little kids [Cathy, now 50, Julian, 49, later joined by Dwayne, 33] we went out on our own.

I’ve always had attention deficit disorder but it’s been a real blessing, especially in business, where I grabbed an idea, had no fear and just gave it my all. Yes, I’ve fallen flat on my face sometimes but most people never do things in life because of fear of failure.

While I was in refrigeration, I was lifting weights and got involved in welding together some gear for a kids’ program. From that, we got involved in manufacturing gym gear, running gyms and a health food shop.

At 24, we sold the lot and went bush to do the hippy thing with the kids. We had a rough block at Grandchester [west of Ipswich], where we spent seven years building our own house. Becoming vegetarians, we struggled to find fruit and nut trees so we started a little nursery, which grew to have the biggest range in Queensland.

Ray Archer at Bribie Island. Pic Annette Dew

When I left home at 15, I said I’d never walk into a church again unless it was to get married or buried. Just before I met Delphine, I briefly attended the Church of Christ, run by minister [and late Brisbane media personality] Haydn Sargent. I was virtually an alcoholic, had been since 13 when my job at home was to make the homemade beer. Sargent had opened his church to all the druggies and helped a lot of folk, including me.

Fast forward eight years, and Delphine and I had a mess more than a marriage.
A letter invited us to a lecture on ancient Egypt and, because we were building with sandstone, we went to see if we could pick up any clues. It was a Christian group,
and we were hooked. It changed our relationship with each other, the kids, and our lives overall. We spent the next six years visiting Egypt, the Middle East and sites of the Old Testament, and holding our own lectures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqXvCmVsIIk

Running out of money, we started growing olive trees. We shifted five million trees in five years and had 80 staff. When an order fell through and left us with 100,000 trees, we started an olive leaf extract export company.

Whenever life handed us lemons, we always tried to make lemonade.

I’d nearly fallen off the perch a few times from stress when [son] Julian came on board.

Delphine and I transformed our few acres into a garden to attract native sweet-singing birds and bring peace into our lives. This is where my interest in butterflies started.

When we moved to Bribie Island nine years ago, I built a backyard butterfly house and garden, which attracted volunteers and visitors. Council heard about it and gave us land for the Bribie Island Butterfly House.

I love helping people. My wonderful bride and I have always helped charities working with the extreme poor of the world. We really believe the reason we’ve been blessed in business is because we’ve used our money properly, instead of hoarding it for ourselves.

There’s a saying – if you treat everyone like they’re hurting, you’re treating nearly everyone the right way. People can relax among the butterflies. There are about 1000 of them flying around, and people just have a ball.

Also, all profits go to charity. In our first year of operation [July 2017-July 2018], we have welcomed 15,000 visitors and given away $101,000.

It’s been unbelievable.

bribieislandbutterflyhouse.org