Meet four wonder women from the Moreton Bay Region

Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, we chat to four amazing women from across the region. They truly are superheroes making a difference in our community.

Mary Foley has given a lifetime of service to the community. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Walker

Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, we chat to four amazing women from across the region. They truly are superheroes making a difference in our community.

Mary Foley has volunteered for most of her 84 years. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Walker

MARY FOLEY

VOLUNTEER

Raising 12 children surely could have excused Mary Foley from decades of volunteer work, but the notion never entered her head.

The 84-year-old Margate resident says there’s always time to help others.

“You need to make time and be organised,” Mary says.

Her efforts have not gone unnoticed by her children, with three conspiring to nominate her for an Order of Australia Medal (OAM), which she was awarded in January in recognition of more than 30 years’ of volunteer service in the Moreton Bay Region.

Son Paul says his mum has been “doing something for as long as I can remember”.

It all started with the Yooralla Hospital School for Crippled Children and Adults in Victoria. Mary took part in the Mrs Victoria quest in 1974 to raise money for the school, which culminated in a telethon.

She joined the Women’s Action Alliance the year before International Women’s Day started in 1975.

The Foley family moved to the Peninsula in 1976 and Mary was approached by the Queensland branch of the Women’s Action Alliance to join.

She was on the committee for the International Year of the Child (1979) and stayed with the organisation until the following year when her husband became ill.

Mary started helping out at the St Vincent de Paul op shop at Margate in 1989, later becoming a member of the Redcliffe Conference and Our Lady Help of Christians, where she is still a volunteer.

She was also involved with the Give a Child a Chance Program, has sung with several community choirs and volunteers at Oznam Village Aged Care’s chapel.

“It’s made me very busy,” she says laughing. “It’s been so diverse. I saw a lot of life I wouldn’t have otherwise seen. I’ve seen the challenges that other people face.

“I know it enriched some of my children’s lives. When we moved up here, one of the first things I did was Meals on Wheels. My daughter would come on school holidays and talk with the oldies.”

So, what’s the secret to raising 12 children?

“I just did it. Life was very busy, especially when the children were younger,” Mary says.

“I certainly knew I was alive, but life was different back then. I think a lot of women are back in the workforce (after having children) because they think it’s expected of them.”

But don’t think, for a minute, Mary is against equal opportunity. She took the Queensland Irish Club to the Human Rights Commission when it wouldn’t grant her full membership after the death of her husband in the mid 1980s. It would only offer associate membership. A round table meeting with Mary, the commission and the club resulted in full membership being granted.

BPW North Lakes president Laurene Coates. Picture: Dominika Lis

LAURENE COATES

BUSINESS PROFESSIONAL WOMEN NORTH LAKES PRESIDENT

When asked to name a woman in business who inspires her, Laurene Coates lists two – her daughter Erin and horse trainer Gai Waterhouse because they both have guts and determination.

According to Laurene, Gai is an icon who works hard and has found her own way in a male-dominated industry, while Erin has used an intense attention to detail to create her own line of jewellery.

As for Laurene, she and husband Gary bought their first jewellery shop at Nundah in 1993, before taking on Jade Jewellers stores at Caboolture in 2000 and later Burpengary.

She joined BPW in Caboolture in 2009, but became too busy to attend meetings and events, so took a step back. She started with BPW North Lakes in 2015 when it formed.

Laurene says one of the challenges she’s encountered as a woman in business has been visibility. “There’s been an invisible assumption that the business owner or manager had to be male,” Laurene explains.

Being part of BPW has enabled her to connect with other women in business and realise others are facing the same challenges.

“Definitely the support that you get, the empowerment and the knowledge that there’s people going through the same highs and lows that you are,” she says.

“There’s also the networking and mentoring available – informal and formal. It’s been important for my own self-development. That’s been immeasurable.”

 She has this advice for other women starting out in business. “Perseverance, positivity, persistence, planning, practise and procedures. Those are key,” she says.

Everton Hills artist Hayley Wills. Picture: Dominika Lis

HAYLEY WILLS

ARTIST, MOTHER

When Hayley Wills has tucked her young children in for the night, she gets to work creating bold and bright art that makes her heart sing.

The Everton Hills mother-of-three decided to have a crack at a career in art in 2017, when her youngest child Patrick was a baby.

The family had just moved and Hayley wanted to create some art for their new home. Her husband could see how much she enjoyed creating the pieces and suggested she take it further.

So, she started selling paintings at the markets and gift shops, and it’s grown from there.

Before then, she had just created pieces for family and friends.

“It’s something I’ve always done. I’ve always loved painting. I love seeing the simple things outside, I mostly paint botanical pieces, and adding a bit more life to them – a lot more colour,” she says.

The images jump off the canvas.

“I love that. I love how it excites other people as well,” Hayley says.

“I start at 8.30pm and keep going until I need some sleep. I do this most nights.

“I love that you get a bit addicted to it because you have so many ideas. Being someone who does botanicals, I’m constantly seeing things to paint and friends are always offering suggestions. It brings me a lot of enjoyment.”

Hayley is often working alone on her work, but art has opened up opportunities to meet and interact with a range of people from clients to gift shop and gallery owners.

She’s also connected with other artists, who have been very supportive.

Her work was used on Hallmark Christmas cards last year, and she’s collaborated with a fashion label in Sydney to reproduce her designs on clothing.

For Hayley, 37, pursuing a career in art has helped her achieve a nice balance while raising three young children.

“They love getting in there with me. The kids get in there and paint next to me, which is nice. My daughter thinks she’s going to be a ‘painting mummy’,” she says laughing.

“They love it. They come in there all the time and give me their feedback. They love bringing their friends in. If I’m babysitting other kids, we’ll often take up the whole table and get the paintbrushes out.”

Caboolture Community Action's Sharin Greeves. Picture: Dominika Lis

SHARIN GEEVES

CABOOLTURE COMMUNITY ACTION

For more than a decade, Sharin Geeves has been helping people in dire need in the Caboolture community – the homeless, the hungry and the broken.

It’s something she was destined to do and started when she was running Work for Dole and male training programs at PCYC in 2009.

“I worked with a lot of guys who were hungry. Three in a week told me they were homeless. I started to notice things,” she recalls.

She contacted local welfare organisations and confirmed there had been a spike in homelessness due to rising rents and unemployment. Sharin says she phoned friends Jeannette Hallen and Robert Crombie, and the trio organised a meeting to decide what assistance was needed.

“Within two weeks, we were out on the street (helping people),” she says. “As soon as we started working, we had people from all over the community and all three levels of government helping.”

Caboolture Community Action was born and continues to help people in need on a daily basis. “It’s brought a different dimension to my life,” Sharin says.

“We get people who’ve never been in that situation before and they don’t know how to deal with it.”

She says it can happen to anyone, with circumstances changing in an instant.

“I enjoy the interaction with clients. When we’ve had a win, I love to see the anxiety fall off their faces. We all get excited. It’s a genuine celebration,” Sharin explains. “What we’re seeing from bushfires and drought is community mobilising itself to do what’s not being done by the people we expect to help. It shows we have the power to change things.”