Jeff Kennett

You know I look back at Jeff Kennett and what depression did to him. Out of it we have Beyond Blue. I am sure there are days where we see the Black Dog lurking in the way he handles himself. However the unsung hero in all of this is his wife Felicity. Clearly a strong person whom has probably dealt with much more than will ever be revealed. Crossed swords with the lady once back in the Advertising days. To Felicity I salute you as a woman whom has stood by her man no matter what. "I dips me lid"

12th February 1972

Here it is forty years down the track and what should be the happiest day of my life is nothing but a memory. How do you rationalize all of this, I am not sure. I loved my wife, still do. No I was know angel but the whole psyche of my life was instilled in me by my father and my father in law.

Work hard secure your family. I fell badly probably during four periods in my life and during those periods experienced what I call an 'aloneness' and felt that the support that I needed was simply not available. My wife, my business partner, my father and my father-in-law. These people I did not expect to solve the problem but to listen and be the sounding board that I always felt that I had been to others. Yep - not there and I broke.

Maybe the tears I was shedding may not have been visible but they were real and they burned as they were shed. The despair drove me to things I could no longer control. No I probably did not have the right balance on my life, work hard in business, work hard on making my families life happy. President of this and that, chairman of everything else not for me but for the common good or so I thought.

Now here I am reflecting on a beautiful wedding day forty years ago and remembering the beautiful girl I still love with all of my heart,mind,body and soul.

Happy Anniversary my darling wife.