Mrs Lugnan has been teaching for 31 years since beginning her career in the Western suburbs of Sydney around Granville and Blacktown.

“I taught English as a Second Language for the first few

years, married and inherited

two sons, finished another university course, and learned to drive.”

In 1985 she moved to Grafton on the North Coast where she gained her first taste of

small schools and country hospitality.

“For a city girl, it was wonderful to be greeted by name when I went into a shop or passed someone in the street. When my daughter was born in 1993 the whole town took on the role of surrogate parent - the poor kid still can’t get away with anything!”

Working her way up through the ranks as executive teacher and relieving principal, Mrs Lugnan became a teaching principal in 2001 in a school with just eight students.

Several years later that school was closed and she transferred

to another small school in the area.

“The most important lesson I learned as a principal was that teaching is a privilege, and one of the toughest and most important jobs in the world, apart from being a parent.”

In 2009, following a tip off from a western principal, Mrs Lugnan moved to Walgett as the relieving deputy principal, a position she found challenging and very rewarding.

“My husband and children are Aboriginal, and I have always had personal and professional contacts in my local community, but Walgett, with its rich local history and language, tested what I thought I knew, and gave me a different perspective on issues faced by both Aboriginal communities and isolated rural towns.

“The opportunity to remain in the western area and be the principal at Nyngan was too good an opportunity to pass up,” said Mrs Lugnan.

“I’d heard such lovely things about the town and school, and when I made a flying visit to see it for myself, and visit the school, I was made to feel very welcome by everyone I met.