Bunbury anaesthetist retires after 31 years, now focusing on family winery St Aidan’s Wines
After more than three decades, Phil Smith is leaving life in the operating room for a life among the grapevines.
For the past 31 years, the Melbourne-born father of three has helped people through some of the most stressful periods of their lives as an anaesthetist based in Bunbury.
Now, he will focus his time on he and his wife Mary’s Ferguson Valley winery.
After completing his degree in medicine in 1979, Mr Smith worked and travelled Europe, starting his anaesthetist training in the UK.
After completing the training in 1989, he moved to Vasse and worked between Bunbury and Busselton, before accepting a full-time position working between St John of God and Bunbury Regional Hospital.
One of the great things about working in the country is there is a great sense of camaraderie.
“And when I started it was a very small hospital, there were only three anaesthetists in town, now there’s about 15.”
When looking for a property to settle on nearby, he and his wife Mary found a 10ha block nestled in the Ferguson Valley that would see them take on a very different journey — building and establishing St Aidan Wines.
When they produced their first cabernet in 1997 they were selling it out the back of their home.
Fast forward 23 years and they have numerous award-winning drops, all sold out of their charming country winery.
Since opening its doors 10 years ago, both of his sons have got married there, he has helped countless people celebrate milestones and brought the community together for movies under the stars.
And each Sunday, he has lunch there with his 98-year-old mother.
“I’m never here without knowing two or three different tables,” he laughed.
I probably get my biggest buzz when I step back, like when we have a movie on and there’s 800 people sitting there having a ball, and you think, ‘we actually made this happen.’ That’s a great sense of achievement for myself and Mary.
The inaugural president of the Bull and Barrell committee, the founder of the Geographe Wine Show and the current chairman of the Ferguson Valley Marketing Group, he also takes a hands on approach to being part of and helping the community.
During his medical career he was also involved in international medical aid with the Army Reserves and Australian Doctors for Africa, inspiring his daughter to follow in his footsteps in becoming a doctor.
And after spending the past three decades juggling his passions, he decided after careful consideration and research to close the chapter on medicine, performing his last list in December.
“It was a thought-out decision and I’m convinced it is the right decision,” Mr Smith said.
Obviously I’m going to miss the people I was working with and the camaraderie, but I’m very comfortable to move onto a different part of my life and not having the heavy burden of responsibility that comes with anaesthetics.
Looking ahead, Mr Smith said managing the winery, promoting the region, and getting through the list of jobs he said he’d get to a few years back were all on the cards.
“One of my aims is to get my car into my garage as it’s full of stuff,” he laughed.
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