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Nadine Garner is an actor best known for playing Jean Beazley in The Doctor Blake Mysteries. Here, the 53-year-old shares the one topic she always discusses with her father, which cast member became her first love, and why she loves that her current partner doesn’t work in the arts.
“Your father becomes the mark of what a man should be. So in some ways, I’ve expected this intellectual element in all my relationships.”Credit: Peter Tarasiuk
My maternal grandfather, James, fought in Papua New Guinea during World War II. He was a Melburnian but moved to Sydney when I was young. He later moved to Tweed Heads, where I would visit my grandmother, Constance, and him for school holidays. My grandparents were sweet, joyful people.
My mother, Janet, was conceived before my grandfather left for the war and he didn’t see his daughter until she was 2½. My 20-something grandmother had given birth and raised an infant alone, so she was traumatised, too. Like many soldiers of that generation, my grandfather never talked about the war. I know that in his 80s, before he died, he had terrible night terrors.
My mother was very in tune with social justice. When I was five, she adopted my little sister Mitali from Bangladesh. Mitali had been abandoned in a railway station and taken to an orphanage.
I remember going to the airport to collect this beautiful 22-month-old child with a shaved head, distended belly and clothes that didn’t fit. It was quite a shock for my older sister, Kerryn, and me, but I completely adored her. I remember the enormous attention required by my mother to nurse her back to health.
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My parents separated when I was 13. Back then, my father, Paul, managed a domestic lighting company. Dad is a very politically engaged person who has an encyclopedic knowledge of history. I’ve always enjoyed his intellect – when we meet, I know we’ll discuss the state of the world.
Dad is quite a spiritual person and in his 50s was ordained into a Buddhist order. He’s not walking around in robes, but lives by the Buddhist pretexts and takes that side of his life seriously. He leads a simple life. We talk about what’s important – if it’s not the money stuff the world wants you to believe, what is it? In him, I have a wonderful companion to thrash these things out.
Your father becomes the mark of what a man in your life should be. So in some ways, I’ve expected this intellectual element in all my relationships. These days, I don’t see Dad a lot because I live in Melbourne and he lives at Port Fairy.