Q&A with Paula Herlihy, Mount Evelyn resident

Paula Herlihy. 144052 Picture: GREG CARRICK

What is something people don’t know about you?

I have an M.Sc. in Pure Mathematics from Monash Clayton and am interested in computability and complexity theory.

I have flown a hang glider in the seventies (not very well – landed in the sea).

What was your most memorable moment?

Seeing the Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA, for the first time at the age of nine.

What do you love most about Mount Evelyn?

That it is a beautiful area with lots of native vegetation within easy driving distance of a large city, with a lot of people caring for others.

What would your last meal be?

Brie and fruit – strawberries, blueberries.

What event, past, present or future, would you like to witness?

Walking on the moon – I saw it in real time on TV but I would like to have been there.

What is your favourite television show?

I don’t watch TV, but from the past probably Patrick McGoohan’s Prisoner or Firefly.

The Ruroni Kenshin TV series.

What is your favourite book?

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, though Emma had a great impact on me.

What’s one thing you’d like to change about Mount Evelyn?

No trucks in York Road or Wray Crescent or other roads through the town – narrower roads and less traffic.

What six guests, dead or alive, would you invite to a dinner party?

In addition to immediate family? Bob Dylan, Kurt Godel, Alan Turing, Elvis Presley, Glenn Gould, Greta Bird (lawyer).

What has been your most embarrassing moment?

Having to ask someone to partner me at my father’s Lilydale Rifle Club Ball at about 18.

At school I…

At pre-school I loved cutting out with scissors.

At primary school I loved sitting in the garden reading books and memorising poetry.

At high school I loved physics, and that introduced me properly to mathematics.

At university I loved the broadminded approach to life.

What was your first or best concert?

Bob Dylan at Festival Hall, 1965 or ‘66. First AND best. Blew me away.