There’s a spark in Margaret Sinclair’s voice; an unmistakable mix of curiosity and confidence found only in people who have truly lived. She may be in her eighties, but Margaret has no plans to slow down.
Her stories are endless – about hospitals and heart transplants, island memories and city lights, business and family. She has so many that, at the age of 81, she decided to record them all on paper and add author to her resume.
Talinga, The House that Dad Built, is a moving tribute to family, place and perseverance. It chronicles Margaret’s 48-year journey across the world and how she remained connected to the heart of her family through the holiday home her father built on the dunes of K’gari (then known as Fraser Island) in 1964.
Margaret didn’t realise it then, but that house would not only become a central storyline in her life, but also create an environmental legacy.
“Talinga was everything,” she tells salt. “Mum and Dad retired there permanently in 1968, and if my father had not built that house, Fraser Island would not be what it is today.”
It was while visiting the family home that Margaret’s brother, world-renowned conservationist Dr John Sinclair, discovered the island was under threat and began his years-long mission to protect K’gari from environmental destruction. Founding the Fraser Island Defenders Organisation, John led the fight against sand mining and logging, resulting in UNESCO World Heritage Status for the island. He was subsequently named Australian of the Year in 1976.
“If Mum and Dad had not been living there, John wouldn’t have been visiting regularly and seen what was happening. He saw how unique the island was. Talinga really was the anchor for it all.”
Margaret has led a life well-lived. After leaving school, she trained as a nurse in Maryborough before finalising her studies in Brisbane. The work was hard, but great friendships were forged, and the parties, she says, were legendary. “Australian nurses were known as party animals,” she says through laughter.
Nursing gave Margaret a passport to independence, and when she was given the opportunity to move to Dallas in Texas, she didn’t hesitate. It was 1971, and the start of a whirlwind journey that would take her across four countries and through more reinventions than most people ever manage in a lifetime.
While in Dallas, Margaret met a young Greek cardiothoracic surgeon named Dr Peter A. Alivizatos. Peter would later become her husband and one of the first doctors in the world to attempt a human-to-human heart transplant. Together, they built a life that was anything but ordinary, moving between America, Greece and England, navigating long hospital hours and cultural changes.
In her book, Margaret details one of these moments: her escape from Greece. It was 1974 and the Turkish had invaded Cyprus in response to a coup.
“I was in Syntagma Square getting the bus back to my apartment and had a machine gun stuck in my ribs by a passing soldier,” Margaret writes in her memoir.
“Soon, tanks were in the streets and the airports were closed in anticipation of military action. To keep me safe, Peter suggested it would be the perfect time for me to go back to visit my family in Australia.
“He, on the other hand, planned to stay and fight for his country. The coup was in effect, so we hatched a spontaneous plan for me to drive to Patras, where I could still leave the country by boarding a ferry to Brindisi in Italy. I would find assistance to help me sell the car at my landlord’s, who lived in Rome. After selling the car, I planned to board a plane from Rome to Brisbane.
“When the landlord saw my car papers, he advised me that I owned a stolen car that couldn’t be sold in Italy. He explained that an international ring stole vehicles in Italy and dropped them off at dealers in Athens for foreigners to purchase without paying Greek taxes. I drove to the airport with very little cash left but at least a plane ticket to Australia. I decided it was best to abandon the car, keys and everything else in the parking garage, as I did not want to be caught in possession of a stolen vehicle.”
It was to Talinga she escaped, before reuniting with Peter once it was safe to do so.
As their life together continued, Peter’s name became well-known in medical circles, while Margaret quietly forged her own path. Her background in nursing gave her an eye for innovation, and while working in a neonatal unit in London, she designed her first invention, The Premie Comfort, which was a positioning device for premature babies.
After returning to Dallas in 1984, she created a full-fledged business, developing, manufacturing and selling a line of patient positioning products to hospitals. Seeing an opportunity for expansion, she moved into the retail market, creating the child-friendly Comfort Products, including the Comfort Tote – a seat that could be used in shopping trolleys – and the Tutti Frutti line. The range was sold to Toys R Us, Disney and Costco.
When that retail chapter came to an end, Margaret did what she had always done: she reinvented herself. “The medical products were boring me so much. It was time for me to go into creative design,” she says. “I began my fashion label, Masinali Originals. It was going well, and I had the medical products still happening in the background.
“Then, a medical manufacturer copied one of my patents. I gave him the option to be sued or buy me out. He bought me out. One of those products, an elbow splint, is still available today. I really would have been a multi-millionaire, but it doesn’t really bother me,” she adds with a hearty laugh.
Life continued. After Peter and Margaret amicably separated, she later found love with specialised haematologist Alain Marengo-Rowe. By this stage, Margaret had bought a holiday home in Currimundi, and she and Alain retired together, travelling between Europe and Australia.
It was while on one of their three-month summer stints on the Sunshine Coast that Margaret came up with her next invention – Maggies.
“I was getting so darn bored in retirement,” she says. “I had noticed these gorgeous sarongs in beautiful fabrics at the markets and thought there had to be a better way to wear them than tying a big fat knot in the front. We went back to the States that year of 2012 and I started playing around with magnets.”
Soon her magnet clasp was stocked in more than 300 stores across the United States. Margaret was manufacturing and selling Maggies by the pallet load, appearing on the Shopping Network and at various trade shows.
“I dialled back sometime later,” she says. “I came to realise that my family just did not know me. I had been travelling so much in work and business, so I took time to write my book.”
Today, Margaret is happy to call the Sunshine Coast home. She still travels to K’gari regularly, acutely aware of the role the beautiful island and its history played in her life and connection to family. In fact, she held her book launch there.
She could easily rest on her achievements, from nursing and award-winning entrepreneur to inventor and now author, but sitting still really isn’t in Margaret’s DNA. Instead, she’s added one more project to the list. Recently, she travelled to Texas to promote and begin manufacturing her latest venture: a new clothing line.
“I have designed an incredible jacket that can be made out of shawls,” she says. “It is really exciting. It feels like I’m working on unfinished business. I have all these ideas for new products, new designs. These are things I can do from home and enjoy. It is exciting to use my mind that way.
“I don’t believe in slowing down,” she adds with a smile. “I can’t go and play bridge and all this stuff. I can’t go to line dancing classes and chair yoga. It’s not for me. I’ve got to be mobile.
“This is why I’m so happy now. I went to Greece, Boston. Dallas, London, without knowing a soul.
“Each time, I had to build an identity for myself. I had great opportunities, but didn’t have anything handed to me.”