How a young girl with stars in her eyes became Australia’s first female astronaut

Katherine Bennell-Pegg has come a long way since spending childhood evenings lying on the grass in her Curl Curl backyard, gazing at the stars.“My mum explained that some of those stars were planets – whole worlds no one had seen up close,” said Bennell-Pegg, the 2026 Australian of the Year and director of space technology at the Australian Space Agency.That young girl growing up in Sydney’s northern beaches had dreams of “big, beautiful space missions” and realised early on that applying herself at school was the first requirement.A strong senior student at Sydney’s Queenwood, she had an ability in physics and maths that was encouraged by teachers.“They put me in one of the Olympiads quite close to the exams and I just didn’t know the content. So that was a real lesson for me – that aptitude is the second factor that matters; effort is the first,” she said.Katherine Bennell-Pegg has become the first astronaut trained under the Australian flag.European Space AgencyBennell-Pegg was keen to follow her HSC with a double degree in physics and aeronautical space engineering at Sydney University “because space was in the title”. With a university entrance rank one point lower than required, she started in mechatronic engineering before being able to transfer for second year.“I needed 99.1. I still remember it because I’d drawn it on a post-it note and stuck it on my wall,” she said. “I saw it as an aspirational goal – not something that I’d failed if I didn’t reach but a personal challenge.”With just 10 per cent of all astronauts being women, even if women have been in the role for 63 years, Bennell-Pegg is on a mission to improve the numbers – not just for astronauts but for participation in STEM courses overall.Bennell-Pegg says, “If you have a big dream you should pursue it, without hesitation.”European Space Agency“Too many people are stepping away from STEM subjects before they see what they’re capable of. I know people who’ve failed exams at school who now have PhDs in maths.“By studying STEM subjects, you can be empowered with the tools to solve problems you care about and make discoveries that excite you.”If space is calling but you’d like to contribute from the Earth’s atmosphere, opportunities are there.“If you put the word ‘space’ in front of a career title, it exists or probably could,” she said. “Yes, we need scientists to ask the big questions and engineers to figure out how they can be answered. But we need tradies to build what is designed and tested. We need people that run the transportation systems like the trucks, the trains and the ships that carry the rockets.”Bennell-Pegg highlighted the opportunities available to engineers – the people who “make the impossible possible” – and is adamant that current HSC students with STEM ambitions should have confidence in their ability to contribute.“Engineering creates order out of chaos, and with it you can really create your own career. It doesn’t matter if you don’t fit the stereotype – in fact, if you don’t you add a different kind of value because you can see things differently,” she said.“I’ve lived and worked in six countries on some of the most compelling missions I could ever have hoped for – human missions around the moon, robots on other planets, interplanetary probes, space stations – and then brought that knowledge back home.“I say, if you have a big dream you should pursue it, without hesitation.”Record-breaking NRL star Alex Johnston on how to get the winning HSC edgeHe’s the greatest try-scorer in NRL history, was the dux of his high school and even has a side-hustle as a children’s author.March 13 will be a day that Rabbitohs winger Alex Johnston and the 40,000 South Sydney and Roosters supporters in Allianz Stadium will never forget.The 31-year-old star was mobbed by thousands of fans in the first minute after half-time when he became the highest try-scorer in the game, breaking Ken Irvine’s record of 212 tries, which had stood since 1973.Johnston at the time said it was a surreal and awesome experience to attain that record. The 2012 HSC graduate from Endeavour Sports High School has always been an overachiever. As a student, he said he understood the value of having a Plan B but saw more merit in committing 100 per cent to his goals.Johnston makes a run during a game with the Dragons last year.Getty Images“I know everyone always says, ‘have something to fall back on’, but for me, it’s more about training yourself to always do your best in everything you do,” he said.“If you have a growth mindset of always trying to improve and be your best in everything, you’ll hopefully make it [to that goal] – and in the off chance that you somehow don’t, your mindset means you’re set to succeed in other ways.”Johnston spent much of his childhood in Hurstville – “unfortunately, at the time I was a Dragons fan” – and with the support of his parents was selected for Endeavour Sports High School in Caringbah.Johnston initially pursued athletics and became the state’s triple jump champion.Outside school, he played in the under-16s and under-18s rugby league teams for the Rabbitohs and for NSW, as well as the Australian Schoolboys team.“I went from athletics to the cricket program and it wasn’t until my final year at school that I transitioned to the rugby league program,” he said.“I’d played a bunch of different sports and I was umming and ahing and wanting to know which sort of path I wanted to follow. When I finally made that transition to the rugby league program, rugby league became the No.1 goal.”The support of the school – in particular Miss Rogers – proved invaluable for Johnston. Tutoring during lunchtime, particularly in chemistry, delivered good exam results and an ATAR of 91.8.“The school and Miss Rogers were very understanding of that extracurricular stuff, helping me with tutoring,” he said. “I was getting all my schoolwork done during school time so I could focus on footy outside school hours.”His undeclared Plan B was to go to university and get a degree that would keep him close to footy, like sports science or physiotherapy. But professional football won in the end.Alex Johnston’s historic night.Getty ImagesHis advice to high school students keen to pursue professional sport is to keep an eye on “all corners of the field”.“If you’re focusing and just doing your best at sport – but becoming complacent and lazy in other areas of your life – those bad habits might actually creep into your sporting endeavours as well,” he said.Johnston, aged 14, in an NRL advertisement in 2009 where he played a young Greg Inglis.Nine“At the end of the day, if you’re doing your best, the result will take care of itself. You’ll be amazed at what you can achieve.”Apart from football, Johnston has written two children’s books: A Footy Tail, inspired by his first son Sonny in 2023; and an upcoming book on former teammate Damien Cook’s story as a beach sprinter.In May, Johnston confirmed that he would join the PNG Chiefs for their inaugural season in 2028.“Being the first PNG heritage player to sign up, I’m still buzzing,” he said at the time.“It’s very important, having PNG heritage; it was almost like a duty or obligation when the team got announced. I feel like I had to go over there and represent my family.“I only get to go over twice a year. I love when I go over there, the atmosphere when I’m playing and the community and how they get around rugby league … seeing all the smiles on the little kids’ faces, it’s honestly the best thing I do every year.”Michele Bullock is the first female governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia.Peter RaeBullock’s secret to managing HSC study loadOne of Australia’s most senior bureaucrats calls herself a proud country girl who attended her local high school in Armidale.Michele Bullock is the first female governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and is known for her egalitarian leadership style. She places great value in her grassroots beginnings. “Growing up in the country was a real leveller for me,” she said.As a top student at Armidale High School, year 12 for Bullock included a “stock standard” HSC study load for those good at maths and science: mandatory English, chemistry, biology, economics and four-unit maths.“Chemistry, biology and economics all sort of played into maths – they involved logical thinking and analytical stuff, so that’s why I liked them all and English was my least favourite!” said Bullock.Her HSC study style was very logical, too. “In the lead-up to exams I had a fairly structured program. I’d set out a timetable for what I’d study when. So the night before, I wasn’t doing any cramming – I was just basically going back over notes and refreshing.”Keen to stay at home, Bullock turned down an offer to study medicine at university in Sydney, instead completing a bachelor of economics (honours) at Armidale’s University of New England. She joined the RBA in her honours year, undertook her master’s at the London School of Economics a few years later, then returned to progress at the bank, holding a series of senior management positions leading to her appointment as governor in 2023.Michele Bullock: The RBA’s Monetary Policy Board meets roughly every six weeks to deliberate as to whether to raise or lower the official interest rate.Dominic LorrimerFor its part, the RBA is trying to help reverse a downward trend in enrolments in economics that has put Bullock centre-stage, speaking at schools and universities across Australia.“Kids aren’t taking it up and probably one reason why is, they think economics is hard – and I actually don’t think it’s as hard as people think it is,” she said. “It suits kids who are good at problem-solving.”Bullock is especially keen to encourage young women who are outnumbered in economics studies.“We are seeing less girls study economics, which is unfortunate, and less people from the regions. Around 50 per cent of our new graduates coming in are women but the applicants are overwhelmingly men,” she said.“We do need diversity in economics. It’s a generalisation but young women just seem a little less confident. I’m conscious that I do have a role, as a senior woman in the field, to demonstrate that you, too, can have an important career in economics.”Bullock sings the praises of economics as a good basis for a diverse range of careers in many different industries – from banking and finance to government and public policy, management consulting, academia and research.“Even if you don’t end up being an economist, it gives you some really good skills and frameworks to think about what’s going on in the world, and look at the news with a critical lens.”The economic basicsThe RBA offers a host of resources for students (and teachers, too), including free webinars and videos about what economists do, how they can make an impact and the diversity of career options.Visit https://www.rba.gov.au/education/resources/Grand Design and Restoration Australia host Anthony Burke said confidence was key for keen design students questioning their suitability for HSC courses or tertiary studies. ‘You can take a little step into a big world’It’s perhaps no surprise to learn the professor of architecture at the University of Technology Sydney, Anthony Burke, always aced tech drawing when he was at St Augustine’s College on Sydney’s northern beaches. But that was perhaps his best achievement as a high school student.The Grand Designs Australia and Restoration Australia host now tells students with design ambitions that the ability to listen and a willingness to solve problems are more important prerequisites than great marks – or good drawing skills.“If you’re curious and you’re empathetic you’ve got everything you need to be a good designer right there,” said Burke.Anthony Burke says his version of architecture as a career has been “so different to what I would have imagined – in all the best ways”.Edwina Pickles“You don’t need to be an expert drawer; you don’t have to be an expert model-maker – those things can be learnt and practised – but the curiosity has to come from you.”Burke is an enthusiast and advocate for the HSC courses in design and technology, industrial technology and textiles and design – courses that develop students’ understanding of “the wholism of a design project”, their “integrated thinking”.“Design makes you look at the world in a way in which you can have some kind of advocacy or agency in it – building our confidence so that we can make positive change even in little ways,” he said.“That’s what the design and technology subjects offer. It’s a really great training. It teaches you to think broadly and act small.”Burke completed a bachelor of architecture at UNSW Sydney and a master of science degree in advanced architectural design at Columbia University in New York. Since completing his studies his “unconventional pathway into a career” has led to work with architectural firms, academic roles in the USA, China and Indonesia, and several years presenting with ABC TV.“I thought I would have a small practice doing residential, small-scale public buildings, enjoying design, maybe travelling and seeing some architecture from time to time,” Burke said. “So my version of architecture as a career has been so different to what I would have imagined – in all the best ways.”To keen design students questioning their suitability for HSC courses or tertiary studies, Burke encouraged confidence.“Young people get very worried, thinking, ‘oh, I’m not a designer, I don’t have good ideas, I don’t have bolts of lightning hitting me – that’s not me’.“As a designer, you start to see the world differently – you see design problems in front of you. Once you realise inspiration is all around you, you don’t find yourself, as a student, having to have the biggest, best, world-changing idea from the get-go. You can’t take a little step into a big world.”Anthony Burke is a professor of architecture in the faculty of design architecture and building at the University of Technology Sydney.Brent LewinBurke’s tips for HSC design studentsEngage your curiosity: “When planning your project, if you’re not curious about it then don’t do it. Do something because you’re genuinely curious. And don’t apologise for what you’re curious about because it’s just a start.”Treat project failures as a learning opportunity: “Every design project has its highs and lows. Embrace those failures as moments of deep learning. Ask yourself: ‘what am I learning here and how is it going to improve my next step in the design process?’”Tune in to design conversations: “As a school student you don’t have to just stay at school. Public talks at libraries, events at art galleries – make yourself available to just go and hear what people are saying. Take your curiosity out into the world.”Take a deep dive into designWhat does Anthony Burke think about this year’s SHAPE projects? Find out more when he interviews five of the top 2025 graduates who talk him through their outstanding projects selected for the annual HSC showcase held at UTS.Ellison Game (design and technology) – Firefighting Helmet Holder.Oliver Mayo (industrial design) – Built Not Bought Cross Kart.Rishona Francis (textiles and design) – La Fleur textile art.Angelina Sanfilippo (design and technology) – Resipod.Daniel Bechara (design and technology) – Australian Traffic Light Ecosystem Redesign.Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.