Growing up on the Fleurieu Peninsula, her humble beginnings have given her the ambition and confidence to branch out and help whichever community she's been a part of.
Now, her lifetime of hard, passionate work has been awarded The Medal Of Honour (OAM) this year for her work in Western Australia.
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Claire Brittain has led a full and productive life. She has travelled the world and since leaving the Peninsula has gone on to be awarded an OAM for her tireless work
Claire has wonderful memories of growing up on the coast and those great times shaped the person she grew to be.
"I grew up in Port Elliot, it was a small country town with about 600 residents as I recall," Brittain said.
"Growing up on the South Coast was great. As kids we had a free run, as long as we were home by dark.
"We used to wander everywhere and ride our bikes out to friend's farms. There was plenty of sport. Most people knew each other, so we couldn't get up to too much mischief or it would get back to our parents.
"I attended Port Elliot Primary school. My father George and mother Nancy were active in the community.
"I have a brother John who lives in Belair and a sister Annabel who lives in Cairns. In the summer the population of Port Elliot trebled with the holiday makers coming into town."
Studying and education is very important to Claire and her dedication to her craft has opened doors for her to see the world.
"I attended Victor Harbor High School and was a prefect in my final year," Brittain said.
"I enjoyed school and was quite a good student, although most of my primary reports indicated that I was "talkative in class". I wanted to be a nurse.
"When I finished school I was too young to start at Royal Adelaide Hospital and had to fill in a year. I decided to study Radiography and attended the South Australian Institute of Technology, (Now University of SA).
"When it came time to go nursing I had completed my first year of Radiography, so decided to continue. I worked for a private practice, Perret and Partners while studying.
"My Aunty had given me book set in Southern Africa as a child and I was completely captivated with the descriptions of the country.
"I decided that's where I had to go. I was fortunate in that Radiography enabled me to work overseas and I spent time in Cape Town and Durban in South Africa.
"Apartheid was still operating at that time and it was rather difficult to understand and live with coming from Australia. I moved up to Rhodesia as it was then (now Zimbabwe) to Bulawayo. I worked at the African Hospital, Mpilo. I much preferred living there and came to love Africa and its wildlife."
Claire returned to Australia and while it was nice to be back home, a devastating event still brings back bad memories, but a lot of good came from the move back home.
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"When I returned to Australia I lived and worked in Adelaide again practicing Radiography, but then went to Darwin and worked at the Darwin Hospital where I was until after Cyclone Tracy," Brittain said.
"This was an experience I would rather not repeat, however we survived a terrible night and I worked there for another few months.
"I then moved to Adelaide again and was the first Radiographer to be employed at the new hospital, Flinders Medical Centre when it opened. I worked there for three years and then went to Perth.
"I worked for about 18 months doing locum Radiography jobs around the state and saw a lot of WA. I then worked tutoring Dental Therapists in dental Radiography.
"I then made a career move and studied Commerce at the University of WA while working in Emergency at Royal Perth Hospital to support myself and my mortgage.
"After graduating I worked in advertising and marketing and market research. I had a very enjoyable job at the WACA during the America's Cup year.
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"My next adventure was to open a travel agency, Boating Holidays. By this time I had met my long term partner John McKay through sailing.
"I specialised in yacht charter holidays and canal trips in the UK and France. I continued with this for about 10 years. We spent quite a lot of holidays sailing in different parts of the world, our favourite being Greece."
After retiring, Claire became interested in Alzheimer's Disease. Her mother was stricken with it and she did a lot of volunteering work for Alzheimer's WA.
"I eventually sat on the board as a Director for six years and Deputy Chair for two of those," Brittain said.
"One of my roles was fundraising and I organised a huge wine raffle with the help of a friend and we raised $70,000.
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"After Mum died I decided to do something different in the way of volunteering and joined a community advisory committee for a recreational park, Lake Claremont, in the Town of Claremont, our local area.
"This area was a wetland, but had been seriously degraded by being used as market gardens, a rubbish dump and a golf course.
"A referendum closed the golf course and along with another woman on the committee and a friends group we started to work with the council to improve the area. A part of the parkland was to be for recreation and part for bush.
"We organised The Friends of Lake Claremont into a company with the idea of conservation and restoring the wetland and bush.
"I did all the administration for the group and my friend had a scientific background. We started applying for and acquitting grants.
"The council did the preparation of the land and the friends group did all the planning and planting. We started by planting the wetland buffer and restoring the habitat and soon had birdlife returning to the lake to breed and birds arriving which hadn't been seen there before.
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"I eventually raised a total of $615,000 through grants and we planted 350,000 plants and refurbished the wetland and surrounding bush."
For this wonderful work fundraising for the two organisations, Claire's name was put forward for an Order of Australia Medal which she was awarded on Australia Day 2022.
"I was surprised, extremely honoured and was invited with other recipients to the Investiture Ceremony at Government House to receive my honour from the Governor of WA, the Honourable Kim Beazley," Brittain said.
"My long-time partner John McKay accompanied me. The medals, the certificate and the way they are presented is very impressive.
"The formal ceremony was exciting and a wonderful experience."
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With fond memories of the coast still in her mind, the pandemic has kept Claire at bay from the area she grew up in, but she will return soon and has some wonderful advice for students in the community.
"I used to visit my parents while they were still living in Port Elliot and later bring them down to the area to visit when they were in aged care at Aldinga Beach," Brittain said.
"Unfortunately the last couple of years haven't been conducive to travelling, however we have a trip to SA planned later in the year.
"My advice to students and young people in the area is that you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it.
"You may end up doing what you intended or you may end up taking an accidental path which is equally fulfilling."
