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The Complexity of Humanity

This is us Warts and all!

Mike and Jocelyn Image:5.1K

Our own homepage, AGAIN! After a break of 18 months I am back with a vengence determined that this will be the best yet. A change of country and climate will be my motivation for doing all those things that time precluded in the past.

Still most important to me is to keep facing people with the effects of domestic violence. While violence is rife in our families it will continue to be rife in our society. We must address the phenomina as well as the politics that would rob victims of some resolution of their trauma.

In addition I intend to make available education packages for Men and children and promote the "Empowerment Courses" developed by Jocelyn McKerchar my colleague and partner.

Over the next few months you will be privvy to some other exciting developments including the release of our Survival Kit for the 21st Century. Keep visiting and I will keep developing.


We came here from New Zealand where we had a page called People-R-Important


We used to live live in Blackball, Westland, South Island,New Zealand. Coming to Narrabri Nth Western New South Wales is an experience we would not miss. The contrasts are so great.

Many of you will know of New Zealand land of the Kiwifruit, The All Blacks, The Rainbow Warrior, and The America's Cup. Many Australians go to New Zealand for the wonderful and inexpensive skiing, or to visit the millions of hectares of beautiful bush, and spend their holidays in one of the safest countries in the world. Australia has a beauty of it's own and since arriving 18 months ago we have been fascinated by the diversity of flora and fauna. We live between Mt Kaputar and the Warrunbungles so we are still near the mountains, but our rainfall is only moderate compared with New Zealand and the temperature range starts where it left off in New Zealand, in Narrabri we can have a night that is 26 degrees C followed by a day that is 40 degrees C, and that is fairly normal.


Originally I came from the UK but I have lived and worked in New Zealand for 30 years, our move to Australia is about greater opportunities and also we want to do some exploring in Australia and Asia and this is obviously a better jump off point for us.

Jocelyn, who is a fifth generation Kiwi, her ancestors having arrived from Scotland in the mid 1800's, also finds Australia near enough to her homeland for visits to children and granchildren.

I am 52 years old and rotund, while Jocelyn is 51 and petite, we have seven children between us, and two grandchildren, Matthew & Claudia, so you can imagine that family gatherings are a crowded and noisy affair.

Our Grandson Matthew With Me and Another Large Snake

Mike and Matthew Image:27.4K

Our Grand daughter Claudia, A real cuddler

Claudia Image:5.3K

As well as educative programs in the area of domestic violence we are keen to expand our base and to utilise the Internet to test the possibilities of doing this. Our core business is human resource consultancy, counselling and training, services we have been providing in New Zealand since 1988.

What We Do When We Have Spare Time

Our spare time is precious and we have developed a range of activities that allow us space if we need it and togetherness when we need that. This is not an exclusive list as we always trying new things both individually and together, but it's correct at the time of writing.

Our loves are:

a) Travel. We don't do package tours but love to arrange our own itinerary, travel by local transport, meet the people and really experience the culture, in fact we just can't pass by a side road, a craft or pottery shop, or someone who is willing to share with us. We have travelled extensively throughout Indonesia, love what we have seen of Malaysia, and have enjoyed numerous other forays into asian culture.


b) Cooking. We love to try traditional dishes from around the world, because Asia is on our doorstep we have developed a love for meals based on rice and pasta (sorry noodles), sharing the recipes and some of our own adaptations with friends is an added bonus.


c) Theatre. Our first stop in any place we visit is to find out if we can go to the theatre, we have seen some wonderful renditions of musicals and straight theatre in some very unusual places. The Phantom in Singapore, Puppet theatre in a Javanese village, traditional dance while sqatting on the ground and eating rice and ?? with your fingers.


d) Sports. We love to play Ten Pin Bowling, Putt Putt Golf, real golf, Lawn and Indoor bowls. Love being the operative word, if it stops being fun we stop playing, though it is nice to win, its nicer to play.


When we want some space we both read, Jocelyn reads historical fiction, I also spend a lot of time computing and Jocelyn writes letters and is now quite competent on the computer.


This page was last updated on the 21 March 1998


You are visitor number to this page since 16 March 1998

Mike Bannister

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Snail Mail
11, Kookora St.,
Griffith, NSW 2680
Australia