Peter Wise
& Wises Farm
A Brief History
Overview
Hi, my name is Peter Wise and farming has been my life at Wise’s Farm, Wises Road, Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia.
I started farming at the age of 17 and I am still going into my 80s. My specialty today is growing the best fresh figs on the Sunshine Coast.
A short story of my life
Though the name is Wise, I was not very smart at Buderim State School where the head master often commented, “Wise by name but not by nature”. I accepted his truthful observation, taking no offence, however I countered that with popularity and was later voted in by the students for a period as school Captain for flag parade purposes.
I sat for my scholarship final exam in 1955 with a great final result, I thought, of 30.7%.
I left school at 14 and waited until the 8th of April 1956 when, on turning 15, I was allowed to work for a living. My first real job was a lad porter for the Queensland Railways.
I had enough after 18 months, so resigned and returned home to work with my father on the farm “Palmyra” at Buderim.
At the age of 20, I challenged myself to learn to fly an airplane and on 30th November 1961, I obtained a student pilot license, followed by a college of Civil Aviation Diploma on the 22nd February 1963, for ground training, with passes in all four subjects, at an average of 93%. Not bad I thought for a lad with a 30.7% average school finish.
On the 8th March 1963, I was asked to consider applying for a Civil Aviation scholarship, where flight training would be subsidized to the extent of four pounds ten shillings per hour, when at the time, the actual cost of flying training was five pounds per hour.
After many solo training flights around the Maroochy, now Sunshine Coast, Airport, I became distracted by a girl who I married in 1964. Golden anniversary coming our way 4th July 2014.
I gave flying away and serious farming then became my lifestyle. I soon realized learning is a life long event. A serious negative event started in 1998 and lasted 11 years finally being resolved in 2009, by which time my anger had reached its maximum limit and I felt compelled to share my experiences in a format designed to help others through being made aware.
