Janice Heaslip

Janice arrived in the Northern Territory in 1957 and worked for Elder Smith Pty Ltd, later she worked as a governess at Hamilton Downs Station near Alice Springs and developed a passion for educating children living in isolated conditions with the same standard of education as urban children, which continued throughout her time in education. She was a founding member of the Isolated Children's and Parent's Association (ICPA) the Alice Springs Branch and the Inaugural State president for five years. Jan has been involved in the development of upgrading of St Phillips School in Alice Springs to a college making it financially viable to operate as a private school in 1989 so it was able to accommodate outback children. She was successful in a submission to the Bicentennial Authority of the Northern Territory for the allocation of a $200,000 grant to build a bicentennial library at St Philip's. Jan was a foundation member of the Centralian Beef Breeders Association promoting pure breeds of cattle in the Northern Territory and received a life time membership in 1988.She has involved in the running of Bond Spring Station and Bond Beef with her husband Grant and also with one of their daughters to create a private tourist operation at Bond Springs Station where tourist could see a fully-operational cattle station and have home cooked meals. Jan was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) on the 8th June 1992 for service to the education of children in isolated areas and in 2011 she was a finalist in the Northern Territory for Senior Australian of the Year.EducatorPastoralis