Before Tim Fischer AC lost his health battle, he and wife Judy Brewer AO discussed the future life without him.
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“Tim knew that the most important thing you can have in life is purpose, a reason to get up every day and to keep working and engaging with the world,” she said at the 2025 Federation Dinner – Rotary Club of Corowa’s 10th Tim Fischer Oration – on Friday, January 24.
“We were by then well ensconced back at my farm at Mudgegonga, a beautiful property nestled in the north east hills.”
Judy’s great grandparents had pioneered that area in the 1870s.
Their weatherboard home, where they raised 13 children, is still there and Judy is currently restoring it so that it can live on for a few more generations.
Judy’s talk was magnificent and is covered in some detail in this edition of The Free Press.
Master of Ceremonies David Potts introduced her to the well-attended milestone dinner, at Corowa Civic Bowls Club.
“It’s a real honour for everyone to have Mrs Judy Brewer AO speak here tonight,” the Rotary past president, Paul Harris Fellow told the 116 attendees.
“Judy was a supportive partner to Tim and has achieved so much in her own right.”
Her happy state is being surrounded by nature and talking to animals. Son Harrison’s experience of autism led Judy to working in the disability area for 30 years, saying she “thought long and hard about how I could combine these passions together in this next phase of my life”.
“From out of the universe came an idea that did exactly that; Carefarming,” Judy said.
“Carefarming or social farming is not a well understood concept in Australia where it seems to me that the urban rural divide gets larger each day.
“Generations ago everyone had a farm experience through friends or relatives or holidays, but now this is rarely the case.
“And this affects our understanding of what farmers do, how we look after our animals, protect the environment and grow healthy food.
“But more than this, we know that in what is a worldwide epidemic of mental health pressures, being in nature in one of the greatest healing powers.
“Carefarming is not a new concept, it is simply combining agriculture with health. Two necessary parts of life that have existed alongside each other since the dawn of time but that in recent times have become very disconnected.”
For the past five years Judy has purpose again. Her talk was about taking new directions in life, whatever age, and the joy of finding a different pathway to be passionate about.
It has been the transformation of her family farm into an accessible and inclusive social enterprise, sharing the joy of farming, animals and being in nature with those who have not as easily had that opportunity.
The Federation Dinner was the first time Judy has been in Corowa since Tim died, in August 2019. “And the first time since that I have crossed the Tim Fischer bridge as I did tonight, remembering the happy day it was opened when we were there with two little boys, who are now 28 and 31,” she said.
Corowa a very special place
Corowa was a very special place to Tim, Judy said, not least because in his political life through many changes of boundaries and three changes of seats from Sturt to Murray to Farrer, he represented Corowa throughout those three decades.
Tim and Judy met through the National Party. “We became friends over time and married nine years later. Yes it was what they now call a ‘slow burn’,” she said.
“But something I have never shared before now is that the first time we actually met, we think, as it was not very momentous but we definitely were both there, was at the Royal Hotel in Corowa when Tim was a guest speaker at a Young National Party meeting as he started his campaign to move from State to Federal politics in 1984.”
Many fond memories of Corowa were recalled by Judy, including the Federation Festival and the wonderful parade “with our dear friend Shirley Nolan OAM at the helm, being absolutely overwhelmed by the size, the colour, the pageantry and more importantly the participation of the community, young and old”.
“You could not go away without being uplifted by the power of the people, and of the pride of doing what they do to make the world turn.
“One of my most special memories of being here with Tim was in 1993 at the Centenary of the Corowa Conference, the gathering that revived the push to Australia becoming a Federation and set the course for the Constitutional Convention.
“What a weekend, hosting the then Prime Minister Paul Keating at a time when politics was truly incendiary.
“Then that wonderful celebration in 2001, celebrating the Centenary of Federation and the restoration of the Oddfellows Hall, this time with the GG Sir William Deane watching that amazing parade go by and I note the wonderful mayor at the time, Gary Poidevin is here tonight and I remember his role in this and so many advancements here.”
It was no wonder why Tim loved Corowa according to Judy, knowing it was a “can do” town with a local leadership prepared to take on big events and continue the legacy that its title as the Birthplace of Federation allows it too, a “very rich history indeed”.
She could talk about Tim forever. “He is always in my head, I feel his presence and I talk to him as my day goes on,” Judy said.
“We had a very happy partnership over 35 years of friendship and 27 years of marriage – I have never met anyone who worked so hard, who was so committed to making a difference and to doing his duty as a citizen.
“Every day was important, every person he met was important to him, and during ten years of fighting four different cancers, he continued to write his books, actively engage in causes, mentor numerous young people, and ensuring that when he left this world he would have no regrets for things he had not done or said.
“I knew him better than anyone, and I was and remain his biggest fan.”
However, life was not easy for the Fischer family.
“Tim faced so many challenges in his life, including from his time at school, being called up at 19 for active service in Vietnam, being injured in the Battle of Coral, politics, a terrible car crash and so many health issues.
Two books about Tim have been written by Peter Rees: ‘The Boy from Boree Creek’ in 1999 and the ‘I am Tim’ released last year.
“In writing the second book we realised how much Tim managed in his time after politics – which he was fortunate to have 20 years to do more.
“From being Chair of Tourism Australia, Chair of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, The Fred Hollows Foundation and other charities, then three years as Australian Ambassador to the Holy See, Australian emissary on many trade delegations and special services, as extreme as attending Colonel Gaddafi’s 40th anniversary as leader of Libya on behalf of the Australian people and his special relationship with the Kingdom of Bhutan,” Judy said.
“He was also Patron of something like 200 organisations during that period, I admit many involving historical rail in some way.
“And he also indulged in his love of travel, leading many train tours around the world – including in Africa and across Russia and China.
“So to life after politics was full and I have to tell, the happiest time of his life.”
The happy couple was so much more blessed than others because they knew their time together was coming to an end.
“Tim was told at Christmas 2016 that the new cancer he had, a type of leukaemia, would eventually take his life.
“He was given six months to two years. Being Tim he lived nearly three.
“He fought it all the way, but eventually came to an acceptance, never complaining right up to the last day,” Judy said.
Judy found there was nothing like Carefarming in Australia.
Tim’s encouragement
“Tim encouraged me to learn more and so in 2019, I applied for and was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to learn about how this works in other countries,” she said.
“It was mindblowing. Overseas the care farm movement has continued to grow.
“There are thousands of farms in Europe, in the USA in Canada that open their doors to people becoming co-farmers.
“In a world where stress, isolation and disconnection has led to a massive increase in mental health issues, there has never been a more important time to bring these two worlds together again.
“And it is not just people with disabilities. It is for everyone.
“So I have spent the past three years creating a place that people can visit and become a farmer or helper or observer for the day.
“It has wheelchair and aged care accessible sheds and facilities, and there are plans and dreams for all abilities pathways around the farm.
“We have started visits, and over the next few years I hope to slowly scale it up, until I can’t.”
Judy hopes that Tim would be happy with how Harrison, Dominic and she have lived the past five years without him.
“Our boys are our greatest achievements, they both have hearts of gold like their father.
“And I have found purpose again, so we go into 2025, curious, confident and committed to new adventures,” she said. Tim would be proud.
Loud applause was given to Judy’s address. Corowa Shire Council’s 13-term record serving mayor Gary Poidevin OAM commented: “Judy’s such a beautiful lady and her compliments about her time spent in Corowa were absolutely fantastic.”
Federation Council Mayor Cheryl Cook described the address as “very insightful, emotional and a beautiful testimony to Tim and Judy’s shared life”.
“Beautiful and powerful”, State Member for Albury Justin Clancy added.
“Judy has a powerful story in her own right. The journey with Tim was deeply moving.”
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