Dancing, parachuting, tattoos and history: Harvey’s Shire president candidates give a glimpse into their lives

“What is one thing that most people don’t know about you?”

It was the question that made some of the Shire of Harvey president candidates stop and think.

Each of them revealed something about themselves which you are unlikely to find out in the advertisements, social media posts or candidate forums which have characterised the past few weeks.

Wendy Dickinson admitted it was a hard question for her to answer.

“I think because of my involvement in the various advisory committees that I’ve actually shown what I’m interested in,” she said.

“I’m very passionate about local history, so there may be some people that don’t know that. I think that we could do a lot more with promoting our local history, especially about Australind being the first settlement in the Shire.”

Ms Dickinson then joked that she was “not good at sport”.

“I’m not athletic but that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in watching games or that,” she said.

“I’d rather read a book.”

Dakota Krispyn noted some people might have misconceptions about him.

“I’m probably the biggest-hearted teddy bear — like I’ll do anything for anyone,” he said.

Mr Krispyn is the most tattooed member of the current Harvey Shire council, but it is not always him who has made the decision on his ink.

“I’ve had bank managers pick it, I’ve had CEOs pick it, so it’s not just me,” he said.

“The idea behind a lot of my tattoos was perception and I want to change people’s perception because they see me and perceive it as something. Once you get to know someone, then you find out who they really are.”

Michelle Campbell linked one of her unknown facts back to her two decades of service in the country’s armed forces.

“I’ve jumped out of perfectly serviceable aircraft, parachuting in my younger days in the army,” she said.

But it’s not just adrenaline-inducing, James Bond-style moves which she highlighted.

Ms Campbell admitted she was not too shy of a karaoke machine “in my younger days”, with one particular song making her heart sing.

“My go-to karaoke song is Wild Thing by The Troggs if I get called up to do karaoke at anytime,” she said.

“I think it’s got to be the go-to, everyone loves that one.”

Robyn Coleman said there were a number of things about herself which she generally does not promote.

“One thing that is really interesting is that I represented Australia in a ballroom dancing formation team and we came third in the world,” she said.

She described the 1988 competition as a “lifelong dream”.

“I have been in ballroom dancing since I was eight years old, not at a highly competitive level — that’s the most competitive level I’ve ever done,” she said.

“It was with a team of about 12 of us and we went over and danced in Blackpool in England in the world championships. That was a real highlight and a real achievement.”