Many of our graduands experience butterflies on their big day, especially when they have large family shoes to fill, but not Caitlin Herbert. She had already been through much worse by the time she arrived in Armidale last Thursday.
Caitlin became the third generation in her family to receive Masters qualifications from UNE, following her mother Tess Herbert (Master of Letters) and grandfather Patrick Flynn (Master of Letters). But any nerves she may have felt had been dispelled by recent dramatic events – namely the flooding of her community of Eugowra, just weeks out from her wedding day.
“Graduation was a relief, to be honest,” said Caitlin, who graduated with a Master of Science in Agriculture. “If it had been a week earlier, we probably wouldn’t have been able to make it.
“We still have our homes and all our stuff, so we are among the lucky ones. It’s fencing and sheep that we have lost. But everyone has lost something, and we are lucky to be alive. Our town sadly lost two people.”
But everyone has lost something, and we are lucky to be alive. Our town sadly lost two people.
Property road washed-away by floodwaters.
Fortunately, 6,000 cattle at the family’s Gundamain Feedlot were spared – and so was Caitlin’s wedding dress, which had just arrived at the Eugowra Post Office when flooding turned the Mandagery Creek into a tsunami and devastated the town.
Despite the parcel being submerged, the dress it contained was undamaged by the floodwaters and Caitlin will marry her fiancé Ed Thomas on one of the flooded family properties on New Year’s Eve. That is, after harvest and a massive clean-up operation.
“It’s all happening,” Caitlin said. “We just keep saying to our guests that it’s like a safari out here, without fences and animals everywhere. Everything has dried out pretty well, but it will take years and years for the erosion of the creekbanks to recover. At this stage, if we don’t get another natural disaster I’ll be happy.”
At this stage, if we don’t get another natural disaster I’ll be happy.
Caitlin’s mother Tess was pregnant with Caitlin when studying for her Masters and Caitlin was born four days after Tess delivered her dissertation. Despite being about to host 160 wedding guests, she wouldn’t have missed her daughter’s graduation.
“Even though we are in flood recovery, we thought it important to celebrate the milestone,” Tess said. “It’s given us time out, to think about what Caitlin has achieved and the work she put in to get there.”
Even though we are in flood recovery, we thought it important to celebrate the milestone.
Tess still recalls attending the graduations of her parents Patrick and Patricia, who both attended UNE. “When I was growing up, they would farm me and my siblings out to relatives in order to attend residentials,” she said. “I was in primary school when I went to their graduation. Then I had my own, when Margaret Whitlam spoke, in 1995, and now Caitlin’s.”
Caitlin is thrilled to now have her own Masters.
“Working in the family business while studying was very important to me and UNE’s online education resources made this easy,” she said. “Being able to get to Armidale during such a devastating time for our community was a silver lining, a reward for all the hours I’ve put in over the past three years.”
