BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Dr Cathy Dudgale has worked in general practice for more than 30 years. As a doctor, she has worked in hospitals, the air medical service, aged care, women’s health, and Indigenous communities.
But the Darwin-based GP isn’t working in the medical industry, she’s studying a Bachelor of Music with the University of New England.
The composer, who has also performed as an instrumentalist with the Darwin Symphony Orchestra for two decades, is an inspiration to us all as we look to celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day. She tells us about how her passions for medicine and music aren’t as far apart as we might expect.
Cathy, lovely to chat with you. Tell us all about your professional life. You’re a GP by day and musician by night – why did you choose to follow two career paths?
My career has been anything but a simple straight line and was certainly not planned. It is truer to say that it has evolved in a very organic way as I have responded to my changing circumstances. Flexibility is the key and particularly for women who are generally the primary care giver within a family. There have been times that I had little involvement in music and other times when I have taken substantial chunks of time out from medicine to pursue musical endeavours. Indeed, I had years where my main focus were small children and both medical and music took a firm back seat.
Becoming a doctor was a clear career choice, but music for me is just a given – it is part of who I am, especially in my role as a composer. Composition was something I started as a child and I will continue until the day I die.
Both careers are known for being so involved, and requiring enormous investments of time. How is it that you’re able to balance performing in the orchestra and working in health?
After I had completed my medical degree and the early required training in hospitals, I chose the path of general practice. This was a deliberate strategy because I knew that I could work part-time and that this would make it easier to have a family and to pursue my music.
I’ve worked hard at time management skills but would also acknowledge that I’ve been lucky to have a very supportive husband and community. I am very driven and this dogged determination has seen me through many a tough time. The fact that I have a great deal of autonomy makes the world of difference. I have made sure that my medical and music life are very flexible; even if there are times when I begin to feel overwhelmed, I can usually quickly adjust my circumstances.
As a doctor, my recent affiliation with GenWise has facilitated this further – this is a group that provide an online platform for GPs working outside the traditional clinic environment. Their flexible working model gives me a great deal of control and allows me to maintain a balanced lifestyle incorporating both medicine and music.
What has working across the industries taught you? How do they cross over in ways we mightn’t expect?
I feel that these two areas, medicine and music, tend to complement each other. Music, for example, can be a release after a day of dealing with suffering and illness. And likewise, these life experiences inform my music – both as a performer and as a composer. Both disciplines explore the fundamentals of life and the human experience.
You coordinated in 2016 a Darwin ensemble called the Australian Doctors Orchestra, which is composed of undergraduates and graduates of general practice. Why did you want to bring together other Australians with these mutual passions? What did you learn?
The Australian Doctors Orchestra has been putting on yearly concerts for over 25 years. Doctors from all over Australia volunteer to play and the concerts raise money for different charities. There had never been an ADO concert in Darwin and I had been approached to help convene the very first.
We had over 100 doctors take part and had a huge appreciative audience that raised money for a program that supports young pregnant women from disadvantaged backgrounds (Anglicare’s Pandanus Program). The organisation of such an event was massive and I was lucky to have the support of some fantastic people. I was particularly grateful to the Darwin Symphony Orchestra.
Even though you’ve performed with the DSO for 20 years and have an established medical career, you’re still underway in your studies; completing a BMus with the University of New England. Why is personal development so important to you, and worth such a huge investment of your life?
I studied Music Theory as a child and have continued with self-directed learning throughout my life, often in response to commissions for new works and arrangements. So I’ve acquired a very practical set of skills that serve me well.
I am at the stage of my life now where my children have left home and I am nearly the end of my medical career. I anticipate more time on composition and in music over the rest of my life. I felt that I needed to update and extend my knowledge in the fundamentals of theory of music and more broadly to connect with the way people of discussing and thinking about music at this time. I am searching for new directions and seeking to clarify my part in this whole music making business. I also love learning, so this is no chore.
In light of International Women’s Day, what would you say to inspire young women in Australia who would like to achieve their dreams – both in music, and beyond?
My main advice is to stay strong and follow your dreams despite what the world might throw at you. When you swim against the tide and enter into areas that are traditionally the domain of men, there will be plenty of people that will be waiting to cut you down. Some of this is overt, but much is covert. And it is not necessarily men who put up the biggest barriers; woman can be jealous and threatened by successful women. So to combat these significant challenges, you just need to doggedly continue to put one foot in front of the other and drag yourself along towards your goals. To me, being a composer is totally tied up in my identity, and to have been denied this would have destroyed me.
Be blinkered – don’t lose sight of your goals despite the obstacles along the way. It is incredibly important that we are allowed to be ourselves.
Dr Cathy Dugdale plays Cello in the Darwin Symphony Orchestra and has composed numerous works, including The Wetlands Suite, written for the Darwin Youth Orchestra. As a general practitioner, Cathy works for GenWise Health, primarily in the specialisations of aged care and women’s health.
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