Courage to take a chance and challenge herself has led to Nathalie Johnstone receiving a CAS Hawker Scholarship to help fulfil her passion for community, policy and service.
Nathalie is studying a Bachelor of Law and Policy Studies at the Australian National University, Canberra, and said she was honoured to be named a 2018 recipient.
The scholarship was established in memory of Charles Hawker, one of Australia's most respected pastoral pioneers, with the funds used to cover board fees at ANU’s Burgmann College.
Nathalie graduated from Trinity College, Gawler, as school captain in 2016, with an ATAR of 98.55, a proud achievement after adapting to a diagnosis of dyslexia and epilepsy in year 9.
High school offered Nathalie an array of opportunities from music and debating, to joining the goat show team, but a trip to Cambodia to help screen people in rural communities for eye diseases was the catalyst for determining her future career.
“I knew that I wanted to study something that would lead to a career in service, but I didn't quite know how that would manifest itself,” Nathalie said.
“We were in this fishing village and we witnessed the absolute poverty these people were in.
“I think when you see the absence of government, you realise what a powerful tool it can actually be, so that's when I thought about looking at policy and how I found myself at ANU.”
It was a fantastic experience and how else can you grow and learn if your opinions aren't challenged or you aren't exposed to new ideas?
- Nathalie Johnstone
Hailing from Williamstown in the Barossa, Nathalie’s passion for community service can be attributed to her parents, being raised to be involved and connected to those around her.
Nathalie’s volunteering resume is certainly colourful with involvement in the Skinny Lattes cycling club, Williamstown Historical Society, Youth Affairs Council of SA, YMCA SA Youth Parliament, Barossa Youth Advisory Committee, Debating SA and the Beagle Association of SA.
Her parents’ professional participation and devotion to cycling was quite the inspiration for Nathalie.
“It was incredibly inspiring just to have that attitude around, that it's OK to start new things and to fail and to just learn from that,” she said,
One such challenge for Nathalie was debating, which she took up in year 11 mostly out of fear.
“Debating was a thought that absolutely terrified me and for that reason alone I decided that I should probably do it,” she said.
“It was a fantastic experience and how else can you grow and learn if your opinions aren't challenged or you aren't exposed to new ideas?”
Nathalie is no stranger to public speaking, having taken the podium at the Lone Pine dawn service at Gallipoli when she was 14 to read some epitaphs as part of winning the Simpson Prize.
“We spent about a week or so at Gallipoli and then I actually got to speak at the dawn service at Lone Pine which was quite nerve racking,” she said.
Nathalie is keeping an open mind as to her future.
“Regardless of the job title, I know that my professional motivation of service is unwavering,” she said.
CONNECTION TO CHARLES FOUND
WHEN Nathalie Johnstone applied for a CAS Hawker Scholarship, she knew little of the man himself but, being an avid historian, she made the effort to get acquainted.
“I read a book about him before my interview and it's a phenomenal legacy to be associated with and I feel so honoured and humbled,” Nathalie said.
Nathalie found she shared many similarities with Charles Hawker – both are native South Australians, both attended a Trinity College, albeit in different countries, and both loved to debate.
Mr Hawker was a proud rural politician, known for being a resolute debater and a passionate advocate of the things in which he believed.
Charles Hawker was a massive inspiration in how he devoted himself to overcoming his disability and going onto achieve fantastic things.
- Nathalie Johnstone
“I got quite emotional reading about the experience he went through with his disability following the war, just the sheer tenacity and resilience of this man,” Nathalie said.
Mr Hawker served in the First World War and was severely injured by machine gun fire, leaving him paralysed from the waist down and told he would never walk again.
Sheer determination and two sticks led to him getting back on his feet and returning to Clare in 1920.
“In going through my own health challenges, he was a massive inspiration in how he devoted himself to overcoming that and going onto achieve fantastic things,” Nathalie said.
Nathalie was diagnosed with dyslexia and epilepsy.
“It is something that raises a lot of challenges for me but you have to have the courage to ask for support and not allow that to be what stops you from doing things,” she said.