Is it just me or does everyone think money is only fun if you share it around?

This week Australia’s richest man (good old) Twiggy Forrest vowed to give
away most of his $10 billion fortune, I thought I’d tell you a local story.

It starts with my friend Annie’s Aunty Marg.

A lot of people know Aunty Marg Conway; she was founding principal of Stella Maris Primary School in Maroochydore, but for the past twenty years she has single-handedly run a small school in the remote hills of Papua New Guinea.

I can’t tell you how brave Sr Marg Conway is.

Every day in PNG is a struggle, but in the early evening of July 17 1998, Sr Marg’s world was shattered by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

More than 3000 people were killed and the fishing village in which Sr Marg lived was completely swept away.

In the aftermath, survivors packed up what little they could find and moved away from the coast, terrified of the deadly and unpredictable ocean.

Rather than abandon her charges, Sr Marg moved with them, to a place in the mountains far away from civilisation. No phone, no electricity, no road to town.

There are 150 students at Sr Marg’s school, and she is incredibly proud of the fact four graduates have studied in Port Morseby and are almost qualified teachers themselves. They will be the first help Sr Marg has ever had at the school.

Every once in a while, Sr Marg returns to Stella Maris for a short visit and parishioners try to raise some cash to send home to PNG with her.

Believe it or not, that’s really where my story begins.

On a very wet Valentine's Day last year, my friend Annie and her youngest girl Charlotte trundled off to early mass, to say good bye to Aunty Marg and witness a cheque hand over.

Because Charlotte loves the trucks, Annie noticed that the rain had stopped road works on Maroochydore Road, so she wasn’t surprised when half way through mass a bloke in Hard Yakka work gear slipped into the seat beside her.

During mass, Aunty Marg got up to talk about her work in PNG. About the children who walk miles to her school every day, the incredible isolation and struggle in a volatile political situation and how a trip to town sometimes involves grabbing hold of a floating log and being dragged across the swollen river by local boys. At the ripe old age of 66.

At some point, Annie started chatting to the working man beside her, he mentioned he had the day off because of the rain and stayed around for a cup of tea and had a quick chat to Aunty Marg.

As he said good bye, the man handed Aunty Marg a cheque, signed Peter Shadforth.

Long story short, a week later, Peter Shadforth got in touch again. He said he was worried about Aunty Marg and wanted to buy her a small gift.

That gift turned out to be a brand new Satellite phone, plus accommodation and travel for family members to fly to PNG to see where Aunty Marg works and help her set up the phone.

Since that day, Peter Shadforth has paid every single satellite bill and repeatedly implored Aunty Marg to tell him what else she needs.

Annie says the phone has literally changed her family’s life. Not only does it mean Aunty Marg is safer, it also ensures she can talk regularly to family for the first time in 20 years. And that means the world to Annie’s mum.

I suspect there are hundreds of hidden stories about Peter Shadforth’s generosity, but he’s a quiet achiever and I think he wants them to stay that way.

In fact, this week's front page offer to fix the notorious Sippy Creek Road on-ramp free of charge is the first time I ever remember seeing Peter Shadforth’s name in print.

So I thought I’d better jump on the bandwagon quick.

Twiggy Forrest said he doesn’t know many men with money who have remained good people.

Thank God for blokes like Peter Shadforth.