Mary Perkins sold for £2 million in 1980, and continue to receive income from. After the sale the couple moved to Guernsey, where Mary's father had retired. Mary and Doug Perkins established Specsavers in Guernsey in 1984. In 2007 it was the largest privately owned opticians in the world, with nearly 900 stores across the UK and Europe. By 2011 the company had an annual turnover of £1.5bn and over 30,000 staff in markets in the UK, Europe and Australasia. Her current title at Specsavers is "founder". Dame Mary sits on the company board, oversees business development and has particular responsibility for
A Swag of Aussie Poetry appeared in September the following year. The CD cover art is by Jenny Glaze and is based on "The Swagman", circa 1908. Nancy (Nan) May McDonald, Douglas Stewart, Kate Llewellyn, A.D. Hope, Ronald McCuaig, R.F. Brissenden, Spike Milligan, P.J. Hartigan (John O’Brien), Dame Mary Gilmore, Jack Moses, Judith Wright, Les Murray, Henry Kendall, Mary Durack-Miller, Norman Lindsay, Vivian Smith, David Campbell, Henry Lawson, James McAuley, Rhyll McMaster, A.B. (Banjo) Paterson, R.D. Fitzgerald, Peter Lawson, Kenneth Slessor, John Blight, Dorothea Mackellar, Victor Daley, Ray Mathew, Kath Walker, Kenneth Mackenzie, Alwyn Lee, Alisha Salvestrin, Ron Jones, Peter Allen, Charles Perkins and Dame