Mackay’s favourite childcare educator wins by landslide | 2023

From stumbling into the profession by chance to dedicating 26 years sharing her magic touch with the kids, Mackay’s favourite childcare educator for 2023 has impacted generations. See why she’s so special.

From stumbling into the profession by chance to dedicating 26 years as a childcare educator, Mackay’s favorite childcare educator for 2023 has left a lasting and remarkable impression spanning generations.

After 26 years of devoted service at Kookaburra Child Care Centre, Quona Mooney feels like “a part of the furniture”.

It is with no surprise to anyone, except perhaps Ms. Mooney herself, that she has been named Mackay‘s favourite childcare educator of 2023.

Born and bred in Mackay, Ms Mooney came into the childcare profession unexpectedly.

“When I was originally leaving school I wanted to do hairdressing,” she said.

“I had friends that worked here and I volunteered.

They ended up employing me after two days of volunteering and I haven’t left since.”

Ms Mooney’s magic touch with the kids, comes from her chatty nature, approachability and her attentiveness in relationships.

“I will tell people a million stories to make them feel comfortable,” she said.

“It’s a big thing to hand your children to a stranger you don’t know and let them look after your child every day, so I try to build relationships to make people feel comfortable.

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“I treat the children and their parents them like they’re my family and work to nurture those relationship even after they leave the centre.”

Ms Mooney also enjoys adding an element of fun to the children’s day by being playful, silly, and dancing with them.

“They all love it,” she said.

“When I walk down the hallway, as soon as any of the kids sing out to me, I’ll stop, give them a cuddle and have a chat.”

“I also love cooking with the children. Cooking is my go to hobby to de-stress but I also love cooking with the kids as well.”

A lot of parents bringing their kids to Kookaburra, went to the centre themselves as kids.

“I was chatting to one of the parent’s they other day and she said, ‘Yeah my mum and dad voted for you, and my grandparents voted for you.”

Without a Facebook presence Ms Mooney was unaware just how much the community rallied behind her, obtaining 31% of the overall votes.

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“I think the first night, I had around 10 different text messages of people screenshotting everything.”

“I went to a family party in Brisbane (during the voting) and someone said, ‘Here’s the celebrity’.

And at the Mackay airport, people were pulling me and saying, ‘I saw you on Facebook’.”

Even at the centre, the other educators were clearing the path for Ms Mooney and calling her ‘a superstar’.

“I can’t go anywhere now,” she joked.

“But it’s nice to know your hard work isn’t going unnoticed.”

Rochelle Gorman from Wonder Kids Early Learning Centre came runner up with 19%.

Ms. Mooney fondly remembered an era when educators would meet at physical training venues and create bonds with their peers.

“It’s nice to see other hard working educators and meet them, so it’s a bit of a shame we don’t get to meet everyone else in the industry anymore,” she said.