Rob Hulbert

When I wrote my book: "Autobiography of a Bipolar" it was not intended to be a published work but simply some background on my life for my only son when he had to say a few words at my funeral. I was 73 at the time so I thought I was getting to an age when it was wise to write something about my past life for him. Usually at funerals you mention first of all where you were born. I was born at Southern Cross which is a very remote and ordinary town in Western Australia. It is so dull a place that once when I was talking to an American man who had just visited there said to me: "Southern Cross has to be the biggest hole on earth". This of course is the most unflattering statement one could get about their town of birth. After he said that I probably told him that I was born there. My birth was significant because whilst I was being born a severe cyclone or it may have been a dust storm made it necessary to batten down the hospital so that it would not be blown away. Also my birth was unusual because the doctor had to use forceps to grab my head and pull me out of my mother's womb because instead of popping out head first I started to turn around and headed back up for some strange reason. Two other incidents that made my birth different was firstly my mother bled profusely and my father was bitten by a red-back spider that was lurking in his shoe. When I was 20 I had my first nervous breakdown and had a few bouts of shock treatment. I was on medication for about a year after this. I quickly recovered and got my first job as an accounts clerk in Narrogin about 120 miles from Perth, the capital city of W.A. After that I went to Melbourne in Victoria with my sister and spent 18 months working as an engineer's clerk for the Gas & Fuel Corp. Eventually I came back to Perth and did school teaching for 22 years and after 1 year of that married my wife, Marg, of now 47 years. I had no medication for 27 years. When I was 47 I had a massive depressive episode and was told by my psychiatrist that I had bipolar. Since then I have been on medication for 29 years. Besides teaching I excelled at tennis and my biggest success was winning 10 games in a mixed doubles match against an Australian Hall of Fame player Owen Davidson who won 11 International Mixed Doubles titles, some of them with the famous American Billie-Jean King. He also partnered the famous John Newcombe to defeat the legendary players Rod Laver & Ken Rosewall in the US Open. Owen was also the Wimbledon coach for several years.