IF THE credentials for a person to be featured in our Humans of Canungra column is that you need to have experienced an interesting life then our latest candidate certainly ticks all the boxes.
In a little over half a century, Felicity Wegemund, has toured the world, rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest movie stars, nursed thousands of patients, raised a daughter, got married a few times (number not to be revealed) and now she has taken up stuffing dead animals as a taxidermist.
She landed in Canungra 15 years ago settling into a small home she had bought as an investment.
That temporary home has now become one she never plans to leave.
“It’s my sanctuary and when I return home after a bad day at the Gold Coast Hospital or where-ever I am working at the time, I just potter around the garden and maybe plant another tree,” Felicity said.
“Don’t get me wrong, I do love people, but many of our younger generation have no respect for anyone and that includes themselves.
“I blame much of it on the Federal Government’s baby bonus years ago when they promoted and paid young families to have babies. Unfortunately many who did had no idea of what responsibilities come along with being a parent including setting the right example.
“But, let me get off my soap box and move on and look at all the positives I have experienced in my life instead.”
Felicity was born in Victoria to a commercial pilot and an air hostess who both worked for TAA.
Her great grandfather was a German sailor who found a novel way to become an Australian.
“We only have scant details, but the story passed down through the family from the early 1900’s was that he decided to leave the German cargo ship he was working on by jumping off at the Sydney Harbour shipping terminal,” Felicity said.
There is now doubt Felicity inherited much of his adventurous spirit, not that she has ever abandoned ship at a foreign port.
Following in her parent’s footsteps she also wanted to also take to the skies as a flight attendant, but getting a role was far from easy and while she tried all the airlines she was continually knocked back.
It was only after she put a nursing degree behind her name that she broke through the closely guarded ranks to grab what was considered at the time to be a premium job.
“I ended up flying all around the globe for more than 20 years and while I did deal with some unruly passengers for the most part those onboard were lovely people,” she said.
“When an opportunity to take an early retirement package came along I grabbed it and I have never really looked back.
“I am not one to just sit around and let the world go by so I decided to return to nursing and after undertaking refresher courses I am now back on the wards on a casual basis.”
It is not just in the hospital where Felicity is looking after patients, she has also landed herself a job as an occupational health officer on major film sets and at major theme parks on the Gold Coast.
“The film sets are fun, you aren’t so much patching up a major star after a slip up, it’s more about the production team who are always moving around the big machinery,” she said.
“I was on location for Pirates of the Caribbean on the Gold Coast and also down in Sydney when Mel Gibson was shooting Hacksaw Ridge. I did get to meet Mel and he was delightful.”
Those who pop in to visit Felicity, on the rare occasions when she is home, can quickly identify her latest project.
“There are a number of stuffed animals sitting around in the lounge room and those wandering in sometimes stop and ask me if I am okay,” Felicity laughed.
“I became fascinated in taxidermy when I visited the Queensland museum years ago, so much so I took myself off to Wisconsin for a two week course on the process.”
She has only dabbled in taxidermy since and she admits an attempt to do a friend’s beloved fat cat after the women’s husband accidentally ran over it didn’t work out.
“It made me realise it’s so difficult to truly capture the soul of a person’s favourite pet, so I will not be doing that again.”
Felicity said some in the neighbourhood knew she was interested in taxidermy and started dropping off dead animals in her letterbox.
“At one stage I had a chest freezer under the house full of dead birds waiting to be processed, that won’t be happening now because the power went out and they all thawed out. Under the house just smelt like death for a few weeks.
“There won’t be any trouble replacing the exhibits, this area is unfortunately road kill central.”
