Anna Mezger (nee Berry), left, and Sarah Brown 

Through going to balls in shared dresses with big hair, successful careers, travel, and even contentious height measurements, this extrovert and introvert have found their equilibrium. So much so they have chosen to be neighbours. 

Anna

We struck up a friendship through rowing, early in first year. Our crew was called the Thunderbirds. None of us had rowed. There has never been any sporting success in Sarah’s and my history together. In the very short rowing season, it was more about making an impression with our outfits. I had my mother’s VW Beetle and managed to fit the whole crew in it so I could take them to the Yarra. One day we were running late and I crashed into the back of another car but mine was still drivable because the engine was in the back.

With all the balls we went to every week, there was a lot of swapping dresses going on, and mixing sashes, to make the Linda Britten dresses we all wore, look a bit different from the week before. Sarah had a very cute pixie hair cut back then and she was the best at tying sash bows – probably due to her part time job at David Jones. Now her hair is thick and long, and admired by many, including me.

Sarah did science/arts and I was commerce/arts so we didn’t study together but we hung out in the dining hall and were forever having plunger coffees in our rooms.

I moved out of College at the end of second year and Sarah stayed, then we lived together for quite a long time. After that she moved to Canberra for work, then the UK for 10 years so we have had blocks of time where we haven’t seen each other. After those breaks, we have always gravitated back to each other. Living together in College, having that friendship where you see one another every day, and then sharing a house, those ties were made, and they continue.  

When Sarah moved to Canberra, I asked her to be my bridesmaid which was my way of saying, ‘You are definitely part of my life.’ Her great connection with my husband Simon and her role as a godparent to our eldest son Max, is another statement, ‘You are very much part of our family and are going to be.’

Sarah had a huge job in the UK then the company brought her back here in 2013. When she retired in 2023, as Managing Director, Pacific she was the most senior female executive at Marsh, with 400 people reporting to her. Being a female in a very male dominated organisation and to have that level of seniority, made Sarah a bit of a poster child. During her career, she was very focussed on work, and clearly very successful.

She has a set of close and treasured friends I will likely never meet and never know which is interesting. She’s had some great fellows in her life. The last serious relationship she had was in the UK and we met him a few times. I think it was a mutual decision that they weren’t going to end up together but I probably wasn’t very supportive through all that. I just wasn’t around to experience that with her. She has forged her path as a single person and now the owner of her large pup, Clifford. It hasn’t stopped her doing what she wants to do with a quiet determination. She’s renovated an apartment and townhouse with great style.  She lives a very happy and full life as well as sharing her love of cooking and fine Italian wines with close friends and family.

Sarah is never down or really low when she has challenges, she is quite circumspect and gets on. It’s amazing. She’s certainly not someone who needs a person in their life to fulfil her. I’m sure it was awful weathering those questions about having children. She was fantastic when we had little kids, it must have been so hideously boring but she was always amazing with our two boys. As we’ve aged, that’s become easier, our relationship is stronger now that I have older kids because we have more time on our hands.

Other than Simon, and my mother, she is the only person who can call me out on stuff, which means a lot. She won’t hold back, she will give me feedback. It may be the way I’m tackling something, and she’ll ask questions to test my thinking. That’s really helpful

She has seen me at very vulnerable times and seems to know what to do. She was my support person in the Oxfam 24-hour Trail-walk so she’s seen it all, dealt with my blistered feet, and tears. She has seen me at some rough times. Our friendship has definitely had ups and downs where we have had words but maybe that’s been a good thing then you can resolve it and get back on track.

I don’t call her out as much, there’s not that much to call out, she’s pretty self reliant and self aware. There’s some vulnerability there, and maybe I’m a bit more bolshy and need to be called out, while she doesn’t need to be. She will come to that conclusion herself.

The only times I’ve been worried about her were when she was working hard and didn’t have a lot of other things in her life, at the time I thought it was tough going for her.

Travelling with others can be a test but she’s a very good traveller. She has also been on her own a long time so has her way of doing things, on her terms. In recent years, when we have been away with the Special Olympics or sharing a room for a golf trip, she’s a lot more relaxed about things – and my mess.

We are really quite different in a lot of ways. She is unapologetically introverted. Introverts are fantastic because once you get to know them, you really know them. She has a wicked sense of humour for those people she allows in. I’m an open book, involved with everybody even if they don’t want to be involved. I respect that about her now, sometimes she just doesn’t want to be involved and she’ll let me know, but I also sense that. I used to get a bit cross about it, but I get it now.

She has taught me about valuing and respecting difference and diversity and sitting with, and valuing that, and what she brings to it. She’s a great dependable friend.

We catch up through golf and volunteering. She has two voluntary roles, one is teaching English as a second language with the Adult Migrant English Programme, and the other one is the Special Olympics, which I roped her into. Special Olympics is a global organisation that provides opportunities for people with intellectual disability and autism to participate in sport. It’s been really lovely. I’ve seen a side of Sarah I didn’t know. At the camp she ran a session for 50 athletes about using social media. I have never seen her in that element. She’s incredible, and so engaging. Of course she is, she has clearly done all of that before but doesn’t have to be front and centre at all. 

It’s great to see her in that capacity but also to observe her with the Special Olympics athletes, and really enjoying it. She has a very close relationship with our second son Harry, who has an intellectual disability. Just because you know Harry though, doesn’t mean you understand intellectual disability and all the various spectrums of different people. I think she’s learned a lot, they’ve taught her a lot, and she’s really loved by the athletes, they think she’s great, fun, kind.

I enjoy doing that together, it’s fantastic when you have a friendship that’s not just social, you have an additional connection or meaning, something you share the same values about. I am really looking forward to volunteering with her at the Special Olympics National Games in Melbourne in October 2026.

We have bought an apartment across the road from her so we will be neighbours soon. It’s a big decision to be that close to somebody. We are both from very small families, it’ll be very nice to have each other nearby. It’s going to be the three old ducks with Simon, Sarah and me. It’ll be fun. 

Sarah

I remember Anna’s beautiful smile and big permed hair, she seemed like someone who was going to be fun to hang out with.

We started rowing together, Anna was stroke and I was behind her so was constantly hitting her in the back. As she was the only one who had a car, she would drive us all down to rowing.  She was a bold driver, let’s say that. Anna was terrified of the big roundabout in Elizabeth Street, near the hospital, and would wind down the window and call out to the other drivers, ‘I’m on the roundabout’, just to fight them away.

We would get dressed up and go to all the balls together. It was the ‘80s, there was lots of taffeta and frills.

We became really good friends when we moved in together. That was the start of me living a vicarious life through Anna. She has always scooped me up into her world, which is a great world to be in. You don’t have to organise anything, you just have to go along with it.

We both like the same things, our values are similar but we are very different people. She is a lot messier than me.

I was her bridesmaid and I’m her eldest son Max’s godmother and she still introduces me as that, which I like, I think is really sweet because I know that means something to her. It’s more than this is an old friend. It’s this is an old friend who has played a role in my life. 

She’s always a good support, a good cheerleader. Not overtly, but she’s always interested. Moving overseas for 10 years, you work out who your people are. I don’t think she ever quite forgave me for moving away. I think it’s hard to understand it, if you’ve not done it. She had a couple of short stints overseas working and studying but didn’t want to live overseas, she’s very clear about her path, and the family, establishing herself. It wasn’t so clear for me.

It was difficult moving back because it was an end to a life I had loved in London. Anna was really supportive, welcoming me back to friendships, including me in things. She is always very good at that. We had a couple of bumps in the road not so long after I came back. We navigated that, I think that’s a test of a good friend to be able to navigate some of those differences over things that are not very important but feel so at the time. It was us finding our equilibrium. Anna is invested in people, I was a different person. I have some really good friendships in London and she doesn’t know those people. She likes to be part of your life and there was an element of her not being involved in that.  

I’ve always been very jealous of Anna’s work life. What she has created for herself as founder and director of Strategic HR, has been incredible. She has a highly successful business working for large Australian companies, that the multi-nationals would kill to have as clients. She’s an exceptionally hard worker, very driven, makes things happen. I really admire that. She’s really inspirational, if I was in a difficult situation I used to think, ‘What would Anna do?’ She’s very confident, has that belief in herself.  I’m not like that.

I was here when Harry was born and in the early days of Anna understanding his intellectual disability and development challenges. She just kept pushing for answers. Now, she has a son who everyone is so incredibly proud of. I remember her taking him to appointments, giving him every opportunity and working hard to do so. She was such a fierce advocate for him. Harry loves sport, he competes in cycling and athletics. It has taken him to Berlin where he represented Australia at the Special Olympics World Games. These experiences and support from others has given him self esteem, independence and employment enabling him to lead a full and active life in the community.

Anna coped with all that in the same way she gets through everything, with self-belief, a real can-do attitude, where nothing is impossible and that applies across the board. If you can’t get into a restaurant, she can. She just keeps working until she gets what she needs or wants. She has incredible strength. A couple of times she acknowledged things were hard but she’s never complained. She’s dealt with her challenges so expects everyone else to deal with their situations. I’m sure she has her private moments but I’ve never seen her flat.

I did think that one day she will just expire but I’ve learned a lot more about introverts and extroverts and I really think that’s how she gets her energy. She thrives on doing things. I’m far more introverted. I say to her, ‘Whenever you need a lesson on how to just chill and do nothing, come and see me because I’m good at that.’ But it’s not for her, it doesn’t appeal to her whatsoever. 

I guess that used to be annoying, sometimes I’ve found watching her exhausting. She does so much. Not only has she had a successful business, she’s raised two amazing boys, maintains an incredible network of friends, and is the Vice Chair of the Special Olympics Australia Board.

I feel OK now saying, ‘You know what, I’m going to sit that out, thank you for asking me but I just don’t want to.’ She gets that now. That’s something we understand about each other.

She genuinely thought she was taller than me. Even when I said, ‘I can see the top of your head.’ It took a long time, and some physical measurements, for her to believe that she is not.  It’s quite a large height difference too. That says a lot about Anna, she is larger than life. It probably says a lot about me too, that I’m not. Now, I just allow her to think she is taller, because I know that’s important to her. Her personality might be bigger than mine but physically, no, I’m taller. Hilarious. She is still shocked. She’s a lot of fun. It’s fun to be in her world.

With Anna’s encouragement, I have taken the plunge to get a dog who I’ve called, Banjo. It’s a big step for me. Like a lot of things, she has been very encouraging but then she’s decided she won’t get another dog, because they’re too much work. I’ve literally been sold a pup. The plan is, when they move in over the road, they’re going to have Banjo. Meanwhile, Anna has renamed him Clifford, after the movie, ‘Clifford, The Big Red Dog’, because he’s so big.

Anna is very busy, which is why working together on Special Olympics Australia has been really nice. It’s a great cause and an opportunity to see each other’s strengths as well. She’s learned a bit about me she didn’t know before, and it’s good.

One of her values is inclusion but she talks about it in a much broader way than including a minority group, Anna is about including everybody. I think I’m quite a collaborative and consultative person then I look at the way Anna does it and I see she thinks, ‘Let’s just get everyone’. Anna is very much about the more the merrier.

She’s very competitive, it’s part of that work ethic, she likes a competition, likes playing games, and where I’ve seen that manifest in particular is playing golf. She is also incredibly kind, generous and bloody funny. Anna’s can-do has rubbed off on me, her attitude towards always having a go, has made me stick my neck out a bit more, to live a bigger life.

I really do feel part of their family. When Anna, Simon and I travelled overseas we were on a group tour and because I was on my own, the tour guide would ask me what I wanted to do and I’d say, ‘I’ll just check with ‘mum and dad’, see what they’re doing’. Now I will have ‘mum and dad’ living over the road. It’s going to be fun.