About Christine

More about Christine

Christine Howard grew up in Tasmania. She and her brother attended The Friends' School and enjoyed the benefits of a happy and loving home environment. Following her training as a general nurse, Christine undertook post graduate training in midwifery, paediatrics, intensive care and health administration in Australia and overseas.

In Sydney she established and ran two community health centres and then supervised private hospitals and nursing homes before becoming Director of Public Relations at the Children's Hospital in Camperdown. Christine's career was then put on hold while she married and became a stay-at-home mum. When her children started school, Christine taught health in the child care diploma at Randwick TAFE.

In 1990, newly single and with two young children, she returned to Tasmania and was appointed the first Director of Development at The Friends' School, a position she held for eleven years. In 2002 she became the Community Relations Manager at Jane Franklin Hall, a residential college of the University of Tasmania.

Christine believes very strongly in being involved in her community. She has served on a variety of boards including Kidsafe Australia, Mary Ogilvie Homes, Zootango Theatre Company, Diabetes Australia - Tasmania, Ortus Star, Montpelier Press and now is a member of the Friends' School Old Scholars Association, a trustee of the Friends' School Old Scholars Memorial Scholarship Fund and a member of the Heart Foundation's Heart Smart Committee.

Amongst her hobbies and leisure activities Christine lists entertaining her friends, spending time with her children, live theatre, music and singing (as a listener or participant,) walking, gardening and travelling.

For the five years before her mother's death in a nursing home in 2001, Christine tried to visit every day and be involved in her mother's care.

'It was not an easy stage in my life: balancing the needs of school-aged children with those of an increasingly frail and confused parent was tricky but such a worthwhile thing to do. I am very glad I didn't miss out on spending time with either my mother or my children.'