Steering lives forward: Albury's only female driving instructor empowering refugees through her lessons

From teaching her son to drive, Christine Hill accelerated into a new role, becoming the guiding hand on the wheel for refugees and migrants, steering them towards independence and empowerment.

As Albury’s only female driving instructor for the past seven years, becoming one wasn’t on the 66-year-old’s vision board.

“When my son Aron turned 16, he wanted his learner’s licence. I never taught anyone to drive, but I taught Aron to drive,” Christine told Region.

Following the arrival of Nepalese refugees in Albury, the mother-of-three volunteered through St Vincent de Paul to help the migrants settle.

One day, while showing one of the young Nepalese refugees around town, Christine recounted the moment that started the engine for her new journey.

While standing on the bridge overlooking the freeway, the refugee, named Teju, told Christine that he would never own a car.

When she asked him why, he told her he had no money.

“I said, ‘Well, you’re going to TAFE to learn English to get a job, and then the first thing every 17-year-old, or when you leave school in Australia, does is buy a car’,” she said.

“The next thing he said was, ‘I don’t know how to drive a car’. I said, ‘Well, I taught Aron, so I’ll help you, Teju’.

“From teaching Teju in 2009, I taught his brother and another friend.”

From then on, she volunteered in the Nepalese community, teaching people to drive for nearly six years.

She has worked with diverse students, from women who feel more comfortable with a female instructor to people with little or no English, those with autism, and young boys who aren’t confident.

“One lady speaks back to me in Swahili when I explain things, so I have no idea what she’s saying, but she’s getting there, and she’s soon to go for her licence,” Christine said.

“I’ve taught people who are nearly deaf, and that was an experience. He was from Nepal. They said, ‘Can you teach this young man? He can’t hear and doesn’t speak’.

“I made up hand signals for different manoeuvres like reverse parallel parking. When he took his test, the officer told me he got the signals mixed up, but he still passed. The smile on his face was unforgettable.”

Some of the driving instructors encouraged Christine to offer her services professionally.

“I thought they were just being nice to me,” she said. “In the same week, two of them offered me jobs the following year, and I chose to go with Openroad Driving School.”

She later bought the business at the age of 54 and said it was never too late to start a new career.

“I decided I’d take the challenge and had the business from 2016 to 2024,” Christine said.

”I sold it because my husband, Greg, was diagnosed with cancer and I didn’t have the time to put into the business and be with him.

“Following the sale of the business and Greg getting well, I started to contract for Paul [the new owner] and I’m doing roughly 20 to 25 lessons a week.

“It’s giving me more time for my family because now I am a grandmother and I’ve got my parents in Wagga, who I would love to visit, but I don’t get here enough.”

The former banker said being a driving instructor was rewarding and meaningful career, fulfilling her earlier desire to be a teacher. She became a “teacher of driving” 38 years after leaving school.

“It’s been wonderful and it’s the best job I’ve ever had and it’s important to give people independence,” she said. ”And I make a lot of friends.

“I love meeting new people and helping them. I get excited about where the next person who enters my car is going to come from.

“I’ve been offered a lot of cups of tea and visits, but I say to them, ‘I don’t have enough time’.”

After being taught to drive by her father, Christine teaches people from all parts of the world.

“I didn’t realise so many countries were represented in Albury, from South American countries to all Asian countries,” she said. ”I’ve taught people from some African countries, Scotland, Ireland, Canada and America.

“And usually, I start teaching the eldest child in a family, then you go through the siblings, so you’re guaranteed a few years.”

Christine shared that being a mature female driving instructor had been positive. She was the only female instructor in Albury for about seven years, which made her busier.

Born and raised in Gundagai, Christine has had a rollercoaster ride with endless stories to tell.

Life hasn’t always been kind to Christine. She lost her son to SIDS, and her daughter was born with a heart condition and has had four pacemakers.

She hopes to pen her stories for a book one day, from her experience being involved in the boat collision in the English Channel between the cargo ship Mont Louis (carrying 30 drums of uranium) and the German passenger ferry Olau Britannia to her daughter having heart surgery the day after 9/11.

Affectionately dubbed the ‘‘Queen of Albury’’ by one of her students, Christine brushes off her title, saying she just knows a lot of people.