Coffs Harbour students take on the world in politics, acting and sport
Mayor Paul Amos once played a role in a high school production. Our trip down memory lane takes in the early lives of everyone from golfing greats to leading lawyers. See the nostalgic pictures:
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From golfing greats to leading lawyers, Coffs Harbour schools have turned out some talented types over the years.
Take a look through our list of high achievers who all got their start at various Coffs Harbour high schools.
Paul Amos
Recently elected Coffs Harbour mayor Paul Amos was the school captain at Jetty High in 1978.
He played rugby league and even took a minor role in the high school production of The Boyfriend.
“I remember these years as the best of my life and have lasting friendships where we see each other very rarely in many cases; but just pick up where we left off,” Mr Amos said.
“Neil Scobie was the teacher and friend that influenced me profoundly and many others also I am sure.”
He was first elected to Coffs Harbour City Council convincingly in 2016 as somewhat of a dark horse - or moose as his nickname goes.
The name comes from his childhood where an elderly lady who lived down the hill from him called him “a moos”. His mates cottoned on and started calling him moose and the name stuck.
The Bailey Centre proprietor proved to be a popular councillor and put his hand up again, running for mayor and asking voters to ‘Vote 1, Team Paul ‘Moose’ Amos’.
He was elected to the role with 15,115 (62.2 per cent) after preferences to the next closest contender Rodger Price 9180 (37.8 per cent) following counting from the December 4 election.
The new council has been undergoing inductions and will meet for their first time on February 10.
Dianne Weller
Dianeattended Orara High and in a sign of things to come, she stared in a number of school productions including playing the lead of Sandy in Grease.
After completing year 12 at Orara High, Dianne went on to graduate from the University of Western Sydney at Nepean where she studied with the likes of Joel Edgerton before moving to London in the late 1990s.
You might recognise her face from the stage and screen - but she’s also the voice behind literally thousands of cartoon and video game characters.
She has performed and directed in the UK and in Europe and worked in the USA as a voiceover artist.
She appeared in the Disney TV production of Find Me in Paris; was cast in The Missing: Season 2 and Casualty with BBC One TV in the UK; and featured in three significant BBC Radio4 drama series.
She once again calls Coffs Harbour home after Covid accelerated her plans to establish a permanent base back in the region.
She has two daughters Farrah and Grace and is married to Belgian film production designer Frederic Delrue.
Diane recently played the hard-nosed stage mum and cabaret club owner in the local production of Rouge - An Adult Cabaret at the Coffs Regional Conservatorium.
In recent months she presented - and was the recipient of an award - at the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences (SOVAS) Voice Arts Award.
Graeme Wolgamot
He finished year 12 at Coffs Harbour High School in 2004 and went on to study arts and law at the University of Wollongong from 2005 to 2009.
As part of his arts degree he spent six months studying in Strasbourg, France, in 2007.
In relation to his legal studies he spent time interning in Aboriginal legal services in the Northern Territory, and NSW.
Graeme was admitted to the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory as a solicitor in 2010 and has been working in the Australian Public Service since 2010.
He has cherished his time working in remote parts of the Northern Territory working on community safety at places like Ramingining, Maningrida, Tenant Creek and Wadeye.
“Everyone should spend time in the Northern Territory, it’s a fantastic and unique part of the world,” Graeme said.
He has helped arrange visits by officials to remote communities in far northern Australia to get a sense of the challenges involved in life and service delivery in remote communities.
Graeme now words for the Commonwealth Government in Canberra on systems to address health issues in remote parts of the country.
His wife Amy is from Cincinnati, Ohio and they have a nine-week-old daughter, Susan.
Bob Brown
He is a well known former Australian politician, medical doctor and environmentalist but many locals may not realise he went to Coffs Harbour High School in the late 50s.
“From Bellingen, we caught the school bus to Raleigh and then the two-carriage school steam train to Coffs each day,” he remembers.
“Miss Casey was everyone’s favourite and I had the most wonderful classmates.”
He attended Coffs Harbour High School from 1957 to 60 and then Blacktown Boys High School before going on to study medicine at the University of Sydney.
He was the first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia and the first openly gay leader of an Australian political party (The Greens from 2005 to 2012).
He is currently the Patron of the Bob Brown Foundation which is blockading MMG, a China state-owned company, which is he says is building a toxic waste dump in Tasmania’s ancient Tarkine rainforest.
“Though there are good options for the waste and none for the rainforest, the Morrison government approved the dump,” he said.
“We expect many arrests. I am going up to help save the forest.”
Lucien Tinkler
He was a bit of a sports all rounder while attending Coffs Harbour High School.
He played for the open rugby league team but it was golf that he pursued on a professional level after graduating.
Now aged 60, Lucien Tinkler played mostly European tours.
He played 49 European PGA tournaments in his career, amassing over 50,000 euros in prize money.
His highest European PGA Tour ranking was 154 in 1991.
In recent years he has played in the Bribie Island Legends Pro-Am for older players.
Melinda Pavey
Now a well-known politician, Melinda Pavey’s first memories of Orara High School when she arrived from country Victoria in term three of 1981 were a blur of fear and apprehension.
It was a traumatic experience having her whole world turned upside down at the age of 12; travelling to another state, a thousand kilometres away from everything she know and loved.
“In hindsight I was blessed it was Orara High School- a school that has given me the most treasured friends, memories and an ability to navigate the world fearlessly without hesitation and belief I could do anything,” Ms Pavey said.
She said the cohort of teachers was exceptional including English master John Dougherty, Adrian Paul, Deidre Rugendyke, Alison Herd and Judy Paynter.
“My economics teacher Bill Huxley who lived in a hippie commune was the most interesting economics teacher one could ask for,” she said.
“And Greg Jackson who said at 15 I was a natural politician and Val Furniss who encouraged me to set goals and guided me to my proudest mark in three-unit ancient history.”
Attending Orara gave her the confidence to explore so many options and at the school she threw herself at every opportunity from netball and public speaking to singing and acting.
“Our graduating year of 1986 was the last year that a public high school was the only option for families of the district and I treasure that- geography was the only separator.”
The following year John Paul College opened and in subsequent decades Coffs Harbour Education Campus, Bishop Druitt, and Christian Community schools opened their doors.
“My career trajectory as a journalist, media advisor, small business owner, and politician have been possible to the strong foundations that Orara provided.”
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