New Shoes

Her entire schooling years have been spent learning from home.

‘School of the Air is all they’ve ever done,’ says Mum, Belinda.

‘They haven’t had many other kids around them and I think, while being so far from home is difficult, I am so excited for them to be around other kids and make new friends and have all these opportunities, and play all the sports they want.’

Home for the Lethbridge family is almost 5000 kilometres away, at Warrawagine Station, a cattle station located between Marble Bar and Broome in the Pilbara region of Western Australia

Far from the WA heat, Regina put on the tartan today – the first uniform she’s ever worn – and laced up her brand new, shiny, black leather shoes.

‘My brother and I have hardly worn shoes – mainly because we haven’t really needed to!’ says Regina laughing, as she recounts stories of riding the motorbike at home and playing with her younger brother, who has also commenced boarding in Toowoomba.

Her first impression of Fairholme is fair.

‘It’s big,’ she says before her eyeballs expand and she adds, ‘I mean really big.’

Unpacking in her room today with her Mum and her new “big sister”, Year 12 student, Chloe Brazel, Regina says she’s happy to set up ‘holme’ in Toowoomba.

‘It’s not as big as my room at home – but I guess that just means I don’t have as much space to make a mess!’

She is most looking forward to playing any sport she can try and already has her eyes on the swimming program.



Belinda, on the other hand, is hopeful that travel may resume some normality across Australia by Easter.

‘Currently, we have to quarantine when we arrive back in WA. So, when I fly home, I’ll be in quarantine for two weeks. That’s hard for the kids, obviously, because there’s no point flying them home at the end of term to put them in quarantine for two weeks – but I have my fingers crossed that it all changes by then.’

For now, Regina is settling into a noisy Dining Hall and a house full of sisters.