Francie’s journey to UNE is an unconventional one. After high school, she deferred university to explore other paths, moving to Sydney from her hometown of Forster, travelling the world, and even running a backpackers’ hostel in the Czech Republic. Returning to Australia, Francie settled in Echuca, Victoria, and felt the need to challenge herself intellectually. Inspired by her mother, herself a UNE graduate, she applied for a Bachelor of Arts.
“I chose UNE because it offered a great variety of interesting units and seemed really geared toward supporting online students,” Francie said.
From early on, Francie worked hard to immerse herself in UNE life and culture, despite studying from afar. She has been involved in UNE’s Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) since its launch in 2020 and, after many years as a student PASS leader was offered a supervisory role and became the Project Specialist in early 2025.
“I feel so lucky to have joined the PASS program because it has provided me with so many opportunities to make friendships with students outside of my own faculty,” Francie said.
Francie and her mum, Sandra
With a major in theatre and performance, Francie has taken many opportunities to extend her writing and performance abilities. The Actor’s Craft (THEA307) unit was a particular favourite.
“I say that it was lucky to do it [THEA307] during the COVID-19 lockdowns because I was able to take more time over everything and had the chance to really academically devour the techniques taught,” she said.
“I then had the opportunity to volunteer as a participant at the intensive school the next time the unit was offered.
“It was a wonderful experience and I felt that I had gained a really rich understanding of something I had only scraped the surface of when I was much younger and studied acting.”
To cap off her studies, Francie created a podcast series, Firestarters, with TuneFM as part of WORK300, a work placement unit offered in many courses at UNE. The series explores Australian women writers whose work has been all but lost because it predominantly only appeared in newsprint.
“The fact that we haven’t heard from many of these Australian women writers reveals the gender bias that was so prevalent in literature until quite recently,” she said.
Despite struggling to condense the large amount of material she uncovered, Francie could recognise how this project was the culmination of her many years of study.
“When I reflected upon what I’d learned for the assessment tasks, it was great to see how I had applied so many of the skills I’ve learned throughout my studies to the project,” Francie said.
“There were obvious things, like certain acting techniques, but I also used research, writing and analytical skills, so that the story I told could do the topic justice.”
Now at the end of her time as a student with UNE, Francie’s advice to others studying is connection.
“At UNE you have a unique environment to tap into - we have such an array of experience and ages in our student cohort, and we all gain so much from learning together.
"Take the opportunity to attend intensive schools, go to events on campus or online and, of course, join in with PASS and PAM, it's there for you!"
If you would like to listen to Francie’s podcast, the first episode can be found here or on your favourite podcast app – search Firestarters - Australia’s women writers. Follow along on TuneFM’s social media for new episode releases.
