General News
18 July, 2025
From Shoes to Cinema: A Memoir of Passion and Persistence
The memoir of Shoe-Man Extraordinaire, Peter Sheppard OAM, could read like the who’s who of Italian fashion shows, world trips, and opulence, and while these do feature in his life, they somehow faded just a little into the background of fond memories of a country lad as he prepared to write his memoir.
The former Horsham Primary School 298 student established and owns Peter Sheppard Footwear PL with stores in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, specialising in women's European handmade shoes sourced mainly from small independent manufacturers around the world.
“I decided to write my memoir, metaphorically called 'So Many Shoes and Only Two Feet' because it might inspire a young person somewhere to have a go, follow their passion, and not be discouraged by life's challenges,” he said.
“It’s a metaphor about life, really; so many things to do and so little time.”
And true to his word, the now 82-year-old is planning to travel to the southernmost part of Tasmania, only accessible by boat, to enter the world of movie making about fishing.
“You are never too old to follow your passion,” he said.
“I love fishing and boating, so why not make a movie about it?”
For all the world trips, including 100 trips to Europe and circling the globe on his magnificent Nordhaven 55, he has fond memories of the town and the region that helped form the young man who made good.
His memories of Horsham are woven throughout his memoir from beginning to end as a testament to his Huck Finn Days on the Wimmera River.
Growing up in Horsham
“Mum was a gentle woman, but she was a country girl and could take the head off a chook with one fell swoop of an axe," he said.
"Despite having her own family to care for, Mum would often rescue kids from a domestic situation in town overnight, and I'd wake up to find them asleep on our floor.
“Those memories have stayed with me, and I think that’s why I have supported family violence causes throughout my life."
Another of his early memories is the fatal train crash that claimed many lives.
“We were living in Horsham at the time. My sisters and I were coming home from the ‘pictures’ and came across the carnage," he said.
“Dad and his teammates had left the cricket to help with the injured and dying.
“He told us to go home, but being an inquisitive lad and not living far from the scene, I peered through the hedge to watch. I’ll never forget what I saw!”
He also remembers an incident that catapulted him into the media spotlight for a while, with some amusement.
“It was the day I dropped my dacks quicker than I ever had," he said.
“A teacher whacked me across the seat of my pants with a ruler, and it set the box of matches in my pocket alight.
“Well, that story made the media and gave me a degree of celebrity for a while.”
But it wasn’t his only foray into the media.
His outstanding efforts in swimming and athletics were also memorialised in the Mail-Times when he was in year 12.
The Wimmera Mail-Times beckons
“Dad worked part-time at The Mail-Times, and I’d go in with him and help with the proofreading..
“Most of it was done at the Bull and Mouth [hotel] in those days, and I’d run across to The Mail-Times with pages when they were ready to print."
This led Peter to being offered a cadetship at The Wimmera Mail-Times by the owners, the Lockwood family, but he didn't feel it was right for him, so he suggested a school friend might be the better one for the job.
“His name was Ken Hooper," he said.
“Ken wasn’t a top scholar, but had a keen ability in English.
“He got the job and became one of Australia’s top journalists,” he said.
From The Wimmera Mail-Times, Ken Hooper went to the Age, was the Chief Political reporter for the Australian, and became former Prime Minister John Howard's Press secretary.
So while Ken was forging his career as one of the most successful journalists in Australian media, Peter headed for Melbourne on foot.
A chance ride
Peter was hitchhiking to Melbourne with ten pounds in his pocket to begin a cadetship with Myer when he came across a familiar face.
"I was offered a ride by one of the football greats, Doug Wade, star full-forward for the Geelong Football Club," he said.
“He kindly went out of his way to drop me at the station so I could catch a train the rest of the way.
“I began work in the furniture department at Myer, but was quickly transferred to women’s shoes because it was considered the hardest sales job of all and would sort out the stayers from the not-so.”
While we could say ‘the rest is history,’ 50 years later, Peter said there were highs and lows.
“It wasn’t all smooth sailing, but this is where resilience comes in,” he said..
“It’s not about being knocked down, it's about getting back up that's important.”
Resilience, business smarts, never giving up, and commonsense have been the mainstay of his success, but you get the impression that confidence in his own ability played a part too.
Knowing his worth
“I remember the day I told my boss I had decided to resign from Myer.
“He said, no, you can’t do that until you’ve been up to see Mr Myer.
“But I’d heard about those meetings in the hallowed mahogany-lined top floor where they told you how good you were and offered you a few extra quid to stay, so I told him I wasn’t interested.”
“My theory was that if they thought I was worth it, they’d have given me a few extra quid before I told them I was resigning. I was never Myerised."
This shoe salesman had set his sights on owning his own business.
A lesson in business
A man who could buy the best cut of steak or the largest lobster, or fly to Paris for a coffee, still has a wonderful love affair with offal, which he said comes from the days when his mother had to feed the family and meat was expensive.
“One day, I went to collect Mum’s meat order from the butcher in Horsham, and he wouldn’t let us have any more meat until the bill was paid," he said.
“Mum owed the butcher thirteen pounds.
“I told him I would work it off so Mum could order more meat, and I did."
The then 12-year-old learned the valuable lesson of business: keep an eye on the bottom line.
“I had two younger sisters at the time and felt I was the protector of them, so I did odd jobs to help Mum feed us all," he said.
“Dad had PTSD from the war and drank a lot, so life was hard, but those two sisters went on to gain PhDs, not bad!”
Next generation
Peter retired from the business when he was 58 to fish, paint, sing, and travel the world with his wife Margaret, by boat, but still, he keeps a keen eye on the bottom line at the end of each working day.
His youngest son, Chris, now manages the family business, and “nothing makes me prouder than seeing him address a shoe convention in Milan in English and fluent Italian,” he said.
It’s a long way from the first shop when Peter used to wash the windows and sweep the footpath each day before opening time,
“I used to swivel my head left and right anxiously while I was sweeping because I feared one of my teachers would see me and think she had predicted my future.
“She always said I would amount to no more than a street sweeper, and I didn’t want her to think she was right."
Higher power, humble beginnings
Although he was brought up a ‘good Presbyterian boy,’ he is now a self-proclaimed atheist, but recognises at least three times when a higher power featured profoundly in his life.
Probably the most significant was saving his mother's life, “and that’s chapter...” he said.
“It’s in the book.”
His personal charity, Life Raft, provides help to women and children escaping family violence, and the business supports other charities he established.
So with his memoir done and dusted, a movie to make, and his Highgrove-inspired garden to tend to, there is still so much life to live for the boy who rates rowing across the Wimmera River in the upturned roof of a Chevy, one of his fondest memories.
‘So Many Shoes and Only Two Feet’ is not sold in bookstores but is available through Peter Sheppard Footwear PL.
All proceeds of the book will be donated to programs that protect women and children from family violence.
