Tell us about a time when you felt out of place.

It was supposed to be a night of celebration and recognition.

I was awarded an Order of Australia Metal In the Australia Day Honours List this year. My award was for services to Education in the Northern Territory.

The formal presentation took place at the NT Administrator’s Residence on the evening of May 19. Our three children were in attendance.

I had ordered a new suit for the event. When it arrived and I had a fitting, the shirt, coat and trousers were ill-fitting. A replacement suit was sent from the supplier interstate but it was a little better than the first set of clothes.

There was no time for any “3rd time lucky“ attempt at getting a proper fitting suit.

I had to go with the second effort and had a terrible time. The coat was too big and the sleeves were too long. The trousers were too loose, to the point where I could not hold them up with a belt. The shirt was far too big and protruded and all the wrong places.

I felt extremely uncomfortable, particularly as I had to hitch my trousers up all the time so they didn’t slip down around my knees.

being presented with the middle and having a pin to my code by his honour the Administrator of the Northern Territory Doctor You Heggie should’ve been a wonderful highlight. It wasn’t, because I kept worrying that my trousers were going to let me down – literally.

I was so disgusted with the suit and shirt, which cost me a total of AU$ 590, that I took them the following week and donated them to the Red Cross secondhand clothing store.

My night that’s never bringing back good memories, will always be the night I was let down by my clothes.