Former local living life to "to the max"
Former local Dennis Curyer is following his dream and living life "to the max".
Born in Sydney, Dennis and his family moved to Broken Hill when he was two years old. Educated at the Morgan Street Primary and Broken Hill High schools, he worked as an apprentice painter before moving away in the early 1970s.
Since then he has lived in Melbourne and has also spent some time in Israel and Lebanon.
"After leaving Broken Hill I worked in the financial services industry, but I sold my business in 2000 to do what I've always wanted to – be a public speaker and writer," said Dennis.
Dennis said he had gained a great deal of confidence – enough to turn his back on a successful financial career – early in life.
"When I was young my father was injured on the mine, so it was five kids being raised on a miner's pension," he said.
"On Saturday mornings I would go out on the streets with the old pram and collect bottles to sell. That would give me enough money to go to the cinema and the like.
"growing up in that environment, you needed to develop some form of self-sufficiency."
Now an accomplished speaker Dennis said he talked about winning in business and turning customers into clients.
Dennis has just released his second book, "7 ways to live life to the max", which he said was based on ancient and modern wisdom.
"It's not a collection of material that I just went out and researched. It's about experiences that I've had in my life which I have applied this wisdom to, and that has given me greater insights into them," he said.
Dennis said he had come back to the city for a wedding and to visit his family.
"The big difference between the Broken Hill I grew up in and the way it is now is tourism," he said.
"It was not a big thing when I was growing up. It was a more internal economy. Now, more money has to come in from the outside.
"I think you always have fond memories of the place where you grew up, you get to know it like no other"
