This edition of 'Where are they now?' takes us back to the third year of our Student Exchange, 1970-71. Kathy Cocks was a student at Our Lady Of Sion College in Box Hill, when she successfully applied for a prestigious scholarship to travel to Germany - the first member of her family to leave Australia. After her exchange in Hannover, Kathy was one of a small and passionate group who founded GASS, to encourage the young students to stay involved and contribute to the development of the exchange program on their return. Fast forward 55+ years and Kathy is enjoying her retirement, but still working on her German word order!
Year of exchange: 1970 / 71
School: Our Lady of Sion College, Box Hill
Sponsor: Baron von Müller Scholarship
Town / city of exchange in Germany: Hannover
Thinking back on my first trip to Hannover through the exchange program always brings a smile to my face and a warm feeling in my heart. It was the first time anyone in my family had ever been outside Australia, back when overseas travel was far more expensive, time-consuming and unusual than it is today. My host Mama, Papa and sister Sabine welcomed me literally with open arms at the little local airport, and I quickly grew to love them all. Papa was a professor of landscape design at the Technische Hochschule and Mama worked as a medical administrator in a local health practice. Sabine and I attended Abitur classes six days a week at a girls’ Gymnasium near home. The school weeks were longer than in Melbourne, but the days were shorter – and, unusually for me, Mama and Papa came home every day for lunch and an afternoon nap! My German was hesitant at first, but then came a mental breakthrough and no-one could shut me up! Papa loved laughing at my word order, but I could make myself understood and, more importantly, have fun. The highlights, apart from making lifelong friends, included the first snowfall of the year when we attended the Christmas Eve service at the Marktkirche; a train trip with Sabine through snow-covered München and Tirol to visit her grandmother for New Year; and a trip to Berlin, where I crossed the Wall from West to East and spent a day “behind the Iron Curtain”. Quite an experience. Another memorable weekend was in Hamburg, where Sabine and I saw the then-controversial musical “Hair”, complete with its famous nude scene! Life in Hannover was full of new experiences. I also have Mama to thank for introducing me to opera – the beginning of a lifelong passion.
The day after I returned to Australia, I started an arts degree at Monash University. Naturally, one of my subjects was German. Mind you, my tutors – just like Papa – were still correcting my word order! After university came work and many, many trips back to Germany over the years, always welcomed “home” by my lovely second family. It has now been more than 55 years since my first visit, yet I still feel at home in Hannover. Sabine and I shared so many confidences, experiences and travels, as well as the joys of her children and grandchildren. We often revisited favourite places around Hannover – Hameln, Celle and the smaller villages of the Weser River valley. On one trip with Mama and Papa, we visited relatives descended from Baron von Münchhausen, of tall-tales fame. The family still lived in his old 16th-century manor house in Bodenwerder. During a stay there, I even heard the ghost of the old Baron clanking his chains in the middle of the night as he traipsed the halls.
I built my career in human resources management, beginning in a junior “personnel” role at Siemens, where my German language skills came in handy. HR was a very new professional field at the time. There were no tertiary studies specifically in HR – only related areas such as industrial relations and law. Very different from today, when you can study everything from organisational development and leadership to employee development and people strategy. I worked in manufacturing and financial services for many years in various HR roles, ultimately becoming Director/Head of Human Resources for Salomon Smith Barney Australia and New Zealand.
I then spent the last 20 years of my working life as an independent HR consultant in financial services, with clients including Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, NSW Treasury Corporation and the Australian Securities Exchange. I was fortunate to work frequently in Asia – Indonesia, Vietnam and China – and even spent some time working in Dubai. I am sure my exchange experience prepared me well for navigating different cultures throughout my career.
Right now I am happily, gloriously retired! Like many retirees, I am so busy with travel, study and social occasions that I wonder how I ever found time to work. I am still learning German with U3A (University of the Third Age), where the entire class is over 65, many in their late 80s, including our wonderful teacher. We are all trying to keep our language skills alive so far from Germany.
And some things never change – my teacher still corrects my word order! I am now free to indulge my passion for music and opera, particularly German opera. In fact, I am what is known as a “Ringnut” – a devotee of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, his four-opera masterwork (or monsterwork, depending on your point of view). I am looking forward to another trip to Germany next year to spend time in Berlin. Sadly, all my German family have now passed away, including my beloved sister Sabine. But perhaps, on this next trip, I will make some new friends?