Episode 8- Mandaley Perkins, Husk Distillery

Mandaley Perkins was born in Darwin in1960 to a father who’d survived being a prisoner of war on the Burma Siam Railway, enduring horrendous conditions over three years in many of the forced labour camps along the route from what is now southern Thailand to Myanmar. She’d known nothing of this until she broke her neck in the last term of university and, in an effort to encourage his daughter to dig deep into her own resilience reserves, her father finally spoke of it for the first time. 

She offered fascinating insights into both her parents, as well as  her stepfather. These two men formed the narrative of her two books, Tropic Tide and Hanoi, Adieu. the stories are hard to comprehend from the enjoyment of maggotty rice to the bodies fed to crocodiles.

While Mandy is much more comfortable talking about others, her own story is full of challenges, and you'll hear about how a seed of an idea became a successful business as Husk Distillery, despite devastating floods and plague.

Don't be fooled by her unassuming and modest demeanour; Mandaley Perkins is currently CFO and co founder of Husk Distillery in the Tweed Valley, and as tough as they come.
 
This episode is a cross between a history lesson, a lesson in making rum and gin, but more than anything it’s a lesson on resilience. 

Photo is her own
www.huskdistillers.com

Books
Tropic Tide and Hanoi Adieu available from www.mandaleyperkins.com
Hanoi Adieu  is also available from Booktopia

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Thanks for listening in.


lynneschinella.com.au
0419 186 984
[email protected]

Recorded on Bundjalung Country and thanks to Darrian Warner for the edit on Wadjuk Country.