Sharon Sutton grew up so poor that she went to primary school barefoot and couldn't attend high school because she had to work from the age of 12 to support her family.
Six decades later, the 73-year-old great-grandmother is graduating from university.
"I've never stopped learning," Mrs Sutton said.
"Even in those 55 years between finishing primary school and starting university, I don't think I ever stopped learning.
"I was always reading something and finding something new."
As a child, Mrs Sutton loved primary school and dreamed of becoming a history and geography teacher.
"I just assumed I was going on to high school," she said.
"I said something to my mum about, 'Next year when I go to high school' — and she told me that there was no high school … because mum and dad didn't have the money to buy uniforms or books or shoes.
"I was 12 when I started working in a clothing factory, which today would be called a sweatshop."
Mrs Sutton told herself she would go to university one day, but life took her and her husband to the outback for 40 years, where they worked on a remote cattle station in western Queensland.
She raised the children and taught some of them through distance education.
"That satisfied a little bit of the teaching urge," Mrs Sutton said.
Flying colours
After retiring, she pledged to revive her dream of studying and five years ago she enrolled at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
She studied a Bachelor of Arts part-time, majoring in English and minoring in history and Indigenous studies.
"I thought, well, I'm going to have a go at this to see whether I can handle university studies," Mrs Sutton said.
"I knew nothing about academic writing — I didn't even know what academic writing was."
Mrs Sutton said she felt proud of herself for navigating university life, particularly because she was surrounded by much younger people in her classes.
"I didn't just scrape over the line — I got good marks in so many subjects and so many assignments," she said.
"There was some high distinctions and a lot of distinctions in there, so I'm proud of that fact.
"There's not much that can compare with lived experience, and I've always been an avid reader."
The technology demands proved a big challenge, but Mrs Sutton battled her way through.
"I can remember submitting my first assignment and wondering whether it was going into the black hole of technology and if I'd ever see it again," she said.
"PowerPoint presentations were an absolute nightmare, but I always got over the line with the content."
'Never too late'
After completing her studies, Mrs Sutton was completing the forms to graduate when she suddenly became emotional.
"I started to cry. I thought, 'Gee, it's real now — it's not something just down the track. It's actually going to happen, I'm actually going to get a university degree.'
"I think mum would be proud."
Mrs Sutton said anyone who had thought about further study should "just go for it".
"It's never too late," she said.
"The environment and the atmosphere is so good, and mixing with the young people and listening to their views on things — it's just a great experience.
"I miss it terribly already.
"I absolutely love going to university … I'd love to go back and do another degree.
"It's just trying to make my husband agree because he said when we retired 'I thought we were going to spend every day together.'
"I don't know about that one."
