Graeme's Profile

Graeme was born in Yallourn, Victoria, Australia in 1952. His father was a school teacher travelling around to compensate for the training given to him after the war. As a result the family moved to Ballarat, Greenvale, and finally to Airport West. Graeme began VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education or 'matriculation' as it was known in those days), at 16 years of age and commenced study at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) when he was 17.

Graeme

Emily

In the August of 1971 he entered The Salvation Army Training College to commence training as a Salvation Army Officer. Upon his commissioning in 1973 he was appointed to Barrington Boys Home in Tasmania, then to Bayswater Boys Home in Victoria as a late posting. Finding himself deeply unhappy in Boys Home work, and unable to obtain a move to a more suitable appointment, Graeme decided to leave officership in 1974 and, after working for a short period, commenced a part time Engineering degree the following year.

Not long afterwards he married and in 1977 he and his wife had a daughter, Emily. He achieved his Diploma in Engineering in 1983, and obtained his Degree in 1985, the same year his second daughter, Prue, was born. After graduation he worked for the military on one of the largest projects they had had for some years. This position necessitated a move to the United Kingdom for three years. Graeme continued to work in various Engineering positions until 2001 when he found himself retrenched and so chose to commence his own consultancy business.

Prue

Ingrid

This led to a period of some turmoil, both in his professional and personal life as, while struggling to get his business off the ground, his marriage of 26 years came to an unhappy end. Since then he has been re-married to Ingrid, a divorced mother of four who has also been a Salvation Army Officer. Having always regretted leaving officership, Graeme chose a career change to welfare work, but has since returned part time to engineering.  He hopes to research some alternative energy ideas as well as doing ministry in the Frankston area.