On a trip to Malanda Falls in Queensland last year, Lisa Madden had an epiphany that changed the course of her life.
After an extensive career at McPherson Media Group, the time was closing in to retire.
“It’s a surreal ending to a long story,” she said.
That story starts in 1987 when the almost 25-year-old moved north with hope, ambition and a new job as Ross and Chris McPherson’s executive assistant.
At the time, The News headquarters was stationed on High St in Shepparton, which Lisa described as a “bit of a rabbit warren”.
“You could hear the building shudder when the presses started at 1pm when we were an afternoon daily,” she said.
“It wasn’t a glamorous set-up, unlike where I’d come from in the city, but boy, I fell in love with it quickly, and it felt like home for me.”
About six months later, The News propelled into its new site on the Goulburn Valley Hwy in Kialla, as did Lisa into her new role.
Her line of work covered everything that the government introduced — superannuation changes, equal opportunity law, advances in the personnel and human resource area, and Lisa’s personal favourite, sexual harassment and behaviour.
Lisa has done much to bolster equality in the newsroom, advocating for females to be held in the same esteem as their male counterparts.
“That phase cleaned up our act a bit — no more wolf-whistling from the press crew, the girly posters came down from the factory and everyone had to go through training,” she said.
“I reckon I’ve rolled out that behaviour training over 100 times.”
However, like a mother cleaning up her child’s mess only for them to throw paint on the walls again, policy wasn’t the only area to provide a challenge.
Of course, there was COVID-19, but aside from that, the rise in technology looked like it would make the news itself an endangered resource.
What could have shaken the whole structure down instead stirred an evolution to the online world, and it’s been undergoing a move to digitisation ever since.
“When I first started, I didn’t even have a typewriter,” Lisa said.
“I used to handwrite everything, and someone would type it up for us. How things have changed!
“Moving forward to how we automate the publications now is incredible.”
Over the past 36 years, Lisa has seen the company draw in 1500 ambitious writers, advertisers and people-persons, among whom she found her niche — supporting others.
“I think you learn something from everyone you meet ... and at all times, you want to support people when you can,” she said.
A legacy of being there for people is not something many can say.
But it’s an attribute she’s mastered perfectly.
“One of the things that makes me feel really good, or warm and fuzzy, is that I don’t write the content, I’ve never been a content creator, but I love being part of the engine that makes that happen ... I’ve been really proud to be involved for this long,” she said.
Lisa’s hand extended to dreaming up team-building ideas, which set in motion a saga of management weekends.
One weekend, the MMG crew would be abseiling off fire towers. The next, a ‘laughter expert’ would be at their doorstep.
The team even provided a wild sight for Shepparton residents during a day at the local tennis courts by dressing up as horses and jockeys and engaging in a race as competitive as the Melbourne Cup.
“I think it helped with working relationships and getting to know people on a personal level as well as a professional level to understand how they ticked,” Lisa said.
“It made for better working relationships. And they were an awful lot of fun.”
In the human resource alcove of the media scene, she went big but always stayed down to earth.
“I’ve been given the chance to stretch my wings, have a crack at different things. That keeps you motivated and inspired to keep going,” she said.
“I had never thought of going elsewhere — until now.”
On Wednesday, February 28, Lisa celebrated her final day at McPherson Media Group.
With extraordinary poise, she walked out for the last time, but left the door open to remaining in touch with her former colleagues.
“I won’t be a stranger. Today is technically my last day, but I’ll always remain connected to this place and these people,” she said.
“It’s now time for my family and for me.”