From small beginnings, greatness grows: Australia's Chief Scientist remembers how as a toddler she smeared Vegemite on a wall but instead of being given a row, her elders tolerated and even indulged her curiosity.
"I was very curious child. I was always in strife because I was experimenting all the time. It's something where I was encouraged," Cathy Foley said.
"Sometimes kids when they paint the freshly painted walls with Vegemite when I was three years old, they saw that as funny rather than naughty."
She would experiment. "Getting into a place where my dad used to have lots of tools - it's amazing I've got my fingers and toes still because I used to love making things.
"Teachers at school really encouraged me and then university, of course, opened a whole version of opportunity."
She was talking at Campbell High School where she was there to enthuse students, particularly girls, with science.
Part of the imparting of enthusiasm came from a spectacular experiment involving levitating a magnet.
And part came from answering questions in a very clear way. Dr Foley can communicate.
When she was in primary school, she found that she was dyslexic. She had poor handwriting and struggled in class but teasing only stiffened her determination.
In high school, a teacher spotted her aptitude for science - and she was on her way. She became Australia's ninth Chief Scientist in 2021 after a career at Australia's national science agency, the CSIRO, where she was the chief scientist.
She hasn't forgotten the importance of school as the seed bed to nurture tomorrow's scientists.
"I love engaging with young people," she said.
"It's something which gives you so much energy. And the thing which is interesting is that they are deep thinkers. Whenever I go to a school, I'm always amazed at the questions they ask. Quite often, they have ways of connecting things together which is as good as some of the top scientists that I come across."
She doesn't think enough women go into scientific jobs, and that's a loss to the whole country. "We need to embrace the full human potential not just because we need enough people but also because we need to make sure we have all the smartest people actually solving the biggest problems.
"We're not there yet."
On Thursday from 10am to 4pm at Parliament House, she will be at the centre of a program where 25 government agencies will show young people how they can have careers in science.
At Campbell High School on Monday, the teenagers she talked to were energised by her enthusiasm.
"The kids were so enthusiastic. It was really, really special to be a part of it," science teacher Georgina Matan said.
"Physics is so hard," one 15-year-old said. The talk had strengthened her resolve to do science. "It's made me determined. It's changed my way of thinking so I do have the capacity and ability to do it."
