Sunshine Coast resident Jane Little was just 15 when she first heard about osteopathy and chiropractic. 

She was visiting a church she sometimes attended in Dee Why in Sydney when a boy she was chatting to mentioned eye diagnosis and other natural remedies he used. Despite Jane noting he was slightly reluctant to go into more detail about it, she quickly realised this was what she wanted to do for a career.

“I just knew from that minute that chiropractic was for me,” she said.

However, this was the early 1960s, and pursuing chiropractic studies was often looked at askance.

“It was a new and fledgling field at the time. I finished high school and wanted to go straight into osteopathy, but my parents were against it. They kept saying I should do something registered and recognised. It was drummed into me that I must study, get a job, and set myself up,” Jane said.

What followed were years spent studying. First, a biology certificate course at Sydney Technical College before Jane eventually attended the Australian School of Pacific Administration to become a teacher, while completing chiropractic studies at night. Two years later, the newly qualified teacher travelled to the Northern Territory to start work.

“I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. After a year there I was a mess, so I came back to Sydney to recover. My dad didn’t want me to go back but I was on a bond so I couldn’t do anything about it,” Jane said.

“The second year I was sent to Umbakumba on Groote Eyelandt, which was just glorious.”

After being transferred a few more times, Jane was sent back to Sydney to do her Trained Art and Craft Teacher’s Certificate.

“I was going to go back and work at the art centres in the Northern Territory. It seemed ideal for me but after I came back to Sydney, Gough Whitlam won power and away went the bond system,” Jane said. 

Through all this, she continued to study chiropractic and after five years finally completed the course. However, her insatiable love for study saw Jane enroll in a Diploma of Art Education.

“I continued studying chiropractic and graduated in 1977. I was working in the day and attending chiropractic courses in the evening,” Jane said.

“It was all part-time lectures, but full-time study. It was heavy going.

“I did my Diploma of Art Education and a Diploma of Professional Studies after that. I majored in underwater photography because I’d taken up scuba diving and had to take photographic gear down there to take photos of all the amazing creatures.” Balancing work in art, education, and chiropractic may seem like an unsual mix, however, Jane said they all actually worked well together.

After completing her Diploma of Art Education, Jane had bought a house in the Blue Mountains and would catch a train to Sydney where she would work as an illustrator at the Distance Education Centre during the day, while at night she would see a few clients in her home-based chiropractic practice.

“I was working two jobs and paying a mortgage on the house, so I was happy to work myself to the bone until I got the mortgage paid out,” Jane said.

“I loved each day that I was working as a layout artist and illustrator, and doing patients part-time at night.”

After the distance education centre was closed in the late 1980s, Jane entered back into the classroom before eventually being medically retired from teaching. However, her passion for chiropractic remained and she continued to work full-time in her practice until the late 1990s while also completing studies in herbalism. Jane said, looking back, all the hard work and juggling was worth it so she could do the work she felt so passionate about.

“I was so fortunate that I went through hell and high water to qualify to be able to do this work,” she said.

“It took a lot of hard work and burning ambition and absolute tenacity to get through it, considering everything.”