Social Inclusion Week

Have you ever been somewhere and you got the impression that people were talking about you in the corner ... that perhaps there was something going on that you weren't being told about?

Exclusion of any sort can be difficult, but it is particularly difficult if you have been excluded because of your race, your social status, your culture or religion, your health or something else that you feel that you have little or no control over.

This week is Social Inclusion Week and the theme is Collaborate, Connect and Celebrate.

Social Inclusion Week is about encouraging communities to reconnect and to be inclusive. This year there is a special focus on mental health and engaging older Australians.

This week take the opportunity to establish new relationships, build on your existing relationships and do your bit to address isolation and exclusion by supporting people who may be unable to help themselves.

Celebrating 40 years

It was a privilege last week to work with talented artist Meryl Custers at Baptistcare's 40th anniversary celebration and commissioning service. Meryl drew as I spoke, providing a multi-sensory approach to communicating one of the stories of Jesus.

The Baptistcare press release about the event stated:

The evening honoured the commitment and the transformation that has occurred over the years in the lives of thousands of people and their families who have benefitted from Baptistcare’s services.


Baptistcare CEO Dr Lucy Morris said “the people who were in the Baptist Church 40 years ago displayed great wisdom and foresight as they planned and created an organisation that was designed initially to provide residential aged care for the people of WA. We have also seen the growth of services for elderly Australians in the community and more recently, Baptistcare has been providing services for people struggling with mental health illnesses and people living with disabilities and their families.

“The last 40 years are a reflection of the warm relationship that we hold with the Baptist Churches of WA which gave birth to this organisation, and a reflection of the commitment that we have to the partnership that is held with honour by Baptistcare and we wanted to give thanks for that relationship. We look forward to working with the Baptist Churches of WA into the future.”

Communities consist of Relationships

A series of thoughts about community prompted by a recent trip through the north eastern Goldfields and Murchison. 
 
First experiences have a huge impression when you drive into a town you haven't previously visited. In a recent post I talked about the extremely positive experience we had driving into Sandstone and being welcomed with a sausage sizzle and a cup of billy tea. Nothing was further from this experience in the next town we visited, Mt Magnet.

Situated on the Great Northern Highway, Mt Magnet is like many older mining towns in the region with its wide streets and turn-of-the century stone buildings. It was a Saturday afternoon when we arrived so it is not surprising that you could roll a Sunshine Milk tin down the main street and you wouldn't hit a camel train. But if we had waited a while longer we would have discovered that the wide streets were as ideal for the massive road trains that were heading both north and south, as they may have been for the camel trains for which they were originally established.

While we found ourselves in a town, we struggled to discover community. A cold transaction at the roadhouse gave the sense that the job of these people was to maintain a service to passing traffic with as little effort as possible being given to niceties or conversation that would permit visitors to feel welcome. Strangers should remain strangers. The signs on the roadhouse window indicated that even the locals would not be welcomed if they didn't abide by certain behavioural expectations.

While our observations may not fit the reality, I couldn't help but confirm the fact that communities consist of relationships. A town, an organisation, a club or society may have all the logistics in place, as well as policies and procedures, strategies and structures, but without relationships true community will struggle to survive.

Communities give birth to Opportunity

A series of thoughts about community prompted by a recent trip through the north eastern Goldfields and Murchison. 

Wiluna is a small dusty town situated about 1000km north west of Perth at the start of the Canning Stock Route and the Gunbarrel Highway. Until I began reading the tourist signage around this isolated community, I had no idea that a household name in Western Australia had its roots here.

On November 29th 1927 Luigi D’Orsogna stepped onto the wharf in Fremantle, determined to find a better life for his wife and eight children, whom he’d left behind in Italy. By 1931 the Great Depression had hit Western Australia hard and, hearing of Wiluna’s prosperity, Luigi caught the train here in 1931 and found a job in the gold mines.

Two years later he’d saved enough to buy passage for two of his sons, Caesare (aged 16) and Tommaso (Tom, 14), who joined him in Wiluna. Luigi persuaded Jim Clarke, who managed the Wiluna Meat Supply, to give Tom a job. The youngster was to spend the next four years working in the smallgoods manufacturing operation adjacent to the butcher’s shop – and this was effectively the beginning of D’Orsogna Limited, as it is known today.

It was not until 1949 that Tom opened his own shop in West Perth. By 1951 two other brothers, John and Caesare, had joined the firm and it became D’Orsogna Brothers Pty Ltd. Today, D’Orsogna is a leading manufacturer and supplier of meat products right across Australia – and it all began, right here on this dusty street corner in Wiluna!

No matter how small our contribution may be to a community, or how small that community's contribution may seem to us as individuals, each interaction is a part of a process that leads to new opportunities. Cherish these opportunities and embrace the people you meet along the way since each interaction may be more profound than you imagine at the time. 

Communities need Participation

A series of thoughts about community prompted by a recent trip through the north eastern Goldfields and Murchison. 

Due to gold mining, the population of Wiluna in the mid-1930's grew to over nine thousand people and at its peak, the town had a regular railway service to Perth, four hotels and many other amenities and facilities. Mining is still a focus of the Wiluna region, but the fly-in fly-out workforce has resulted in some different outcomes.

Wiluna now has a population of only about 300 people but thousands of workers fly into the region every day to work on a range of mines including gold, nickel, and lead, along with at least three major uranium projects.  Nickel West, the world's third largest producer of nickel in concentrate contributes significantly to the Australian economy from its Mt Keith and Leinster mines, just south of Wiluna, but there is little evidence of such activity on the dusty streets of Wiluna.

Our society has changed in such a way that regional towns that were once thriving communities no longer experience the hustle and bustle of the mining boom. Mine workers can maintain a home and family in the city and fly in and out of their workplace, without contributing to community life. To be fair to the mining companies, the Wiluna school (pictured) has received some benefits from the support of BHP Billiton, but football clubs, churches, self-help groups, and community societies, struggle to survive or even to exist in a fly-in fly-out environment.

The communities of which we are a part require participation to survive. It is not enough to see our communities, whether they are towns, clubs, workplaces, or organisations, as resources that can operate independently of people. Communities thrive as we participate, contribute and give.

Communities Begin with a Dream

A series of posts reflecting on community, based on a recent trip through the north eastern Goldfields and Murchison.

In 1976 I stood on a sand dune in bushland near Leinster Downs Stations, 368km north of Kalgoorlie. I was writing a series of exclusive articles about the development of the Agnew Nickel Mine, and on this day, as the mine manager and I surveyed the sand dune and the surrounding bushland, we dreamed about the company's intention to build the township of Leinster as a domicile for the nearby nickel mine.

Last week, 36 years later I visited Leinster for the first time since then and enjoyed a cappucino in what has turned into an oasis in a fairly harsh environment. The original dream for a town that would service a mine site, has resulted in the establishment of a vibrant community.

Most of the towns in Western Australia have started because of industry; primarily farming, mining, timber and railways, and what developed was not simply a town where people would do business, but a community where relationships would develop. Apart from the birth of towns, many other communities have commenced as a the result of a dream.  Educational communities, health care communities, religious communities, and more, have come into being as people have imagined a future and have organised themselves.

Reminding ourselves of the dream that led to the birth of the communities with which we are associated is a valuable exercise. Sometimes it is about reminding us of the reason for their existence and to celebrate their achievements; sometimes it is about prompting us to re-assess the purpose of the community; and sometimes it is about calling us to return to the mission that came out of that original dream.

Strong communities welcome outsiders

A series of thoughts about community prompted by a recent trip through the north eastern Goldfields and Murchison. 

 

Wedge Tailed Eagles feeding off the carcasses of kangaroos were the main feature of the drive between Leinster and Mt Magnet, so when we came across the tiny township of Sandstone it was a welcome change. The mass of white roses along the wide main street contrasted with the red dirt and immediately announced that there was something different about this place.

For a period of six years from 1907 Sandstone had a population of 6,000 to 8,000 people. It had four hotels, four butchers, many cafes, stores and business houses, as well as a staffed police station and two banks. During this boom period, in July 1910 the railway came to the town, however by 1919 only 200 people remained. The population has continued to dwindle.

As we drove slowly through the deserted streets we spotted someone waving to us and heard a voice call out, "come and have a cup of tea". Lady Di, as she is affectionately known, has lived in Sandstone for 12 years and three days a week runs a sausage sizzle in the park, cooking up her own recipe of herbs and spices to provide a hearty welcome for the visitors who pass by on a regular basis.

A cup of coffee and a chat with Lady Di was a welcome relief from the long, hot drive and gave us a picture of a community that was struggling to survive, but was welcoming of strangers, and keen to make its contribution to the wider community of travellers.

Communities that build a strong spirit of welcome and acceptance of its own are wonderful, but communities that welcome strangers and contribute to the lives of those outside have an element that is unforgettable. Every community needs a Lady Di who is prepared to put up with the heat and flies to offer a welcome to outsiders, but I think all of us need to have that sort of commitment to reach out beyond ourselves to welcome strangers.