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VOICE FOR CHANGE: Kevin Coombs (OAM) has been speaking up for the rights of disabled Aboriginal people since the early 1980s. Picture: Contributed

MARCH, 2020// SENIORS Unwavering

Work for indigenous causes inspires

Tracey Johnstone

WHEN a journalist described indigenous paraplegic Kevin Coombs’s childhood accident as fortunate, the initial reaction was a fiery slapdown, but then he started to look back.

The Wotjobaluk elder’s voice for indigenous recognition wouldn’t have been sought out.

“The late Charlie Perkins wanted a disabled bloke who could talk a bit,” Uncle Kevin said. “He said, ‘I understand there is a bloke in Melbourne by the name of Kevin Coombs; I want him’. This was when he was secretary of Aboriginal Affairs in Canberra.” Uncle Kevin was appointed in 1981 as the Aboriginal representative on a committee for the International Year of Disabled Persons.

There were 14 people on the committee, all representing different groups. As a result of that working group Uncle Kevin said: “I wanted to get the message through to Aboriginal people what they were entitled to, including grants (under the disability scheme).’’

Speaking to the then minister for health in Victoria, Bill Borthwick, Uncle Kevin also articulated the need for Aboriginal people to be involved in decision-making around the wellbeing of the Aboriginal communities.

Mr Borthwick subsequently opened the door for Uncle Kevin to move from the Department of Aboriginal Affairs to the Department of Health.

“I was there for 21 years,” he said. “My job was to get hospitals, where there was a lot of Aboriginal people coming in, to have a liaison person working there. We started off with eight for the whole of Victoria.” For his family He might not have been in the Pink Pussycat pub in Melbourne that night more than 50 years ago when he saw and fell in love at first sight with his wife, Linda.

They had two daughters –one is a magistrate and the other a vocal advocate for a Victorian Treaty.

The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria held its first meeting last December. The assembly will decide, alongside the Victorian Government, the ground rules for the treaty negotiations.

“I support it,” Uncle Kevin said. “It’s not about me, it’s for our kids and grandkids. “I would like to see a treaty here in Victoria. I would like to see being recognised by the federal government in the Constitution.”

Will anything change? As to a change at the federal level within his lifetime and actionable outcomes from Closing the Gap, Uncle Kevin doesn’t think anything will happen unless there is a “radical PM”. The Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt (AM) announced on February 6 that the Government “is committed to recognising indigenous Australians in the Constitution and will hold a referendum should a consensus be reached, and should it be likely to succeed”. Previously he had signalled wanting a national vote by mid-2021.

Only a few days later, on February 12, at the tabling to Parliament of the 12th Closing the Gap Report, Prime Minister Scott Morrison signalled his unwillingness to lock in a specific time commitment, saying: “I am not going to allow any timetables to prevent the successful achievement of this result.’’ So, where does that leave indigenous Australians?

On May 26, 2017, The Uluru Statement from the Heart was made. Turning to the Federal Government, it stated: “We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.’’

While the conversation continues at the federal level, alongside Victoria, which is recognised as the leader in the charge forward to reconciliation, Queensland and the Northern Territory are pressing ahead on their journey towards reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

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SENIORS \\MARCH, 2020 FEATURE voice of Kevin Coombs

‘‘ I wanted to get the message through about what Aboriginal people were entitled to.

As for the other states, there appear to be mixed commitments to turning the conversation around statebased treaties into action.

“One treaty for the state?” Uncle Kevin said. “It won’t change me, but it will be good for my grandkids and great-grandkids.”

Sporting chance At 18 the wheelchair basketball athlete headed to Rome to compete in his first Paralympic Games. Uncle Kevin was representing Australia, but had to travel on an honorary British passport.

“We weren’t recognised as we didn’t get our rights until 1967; it’s not that long ago.”

It was not until 1973 that Gough Whitlam’s Labor government actively assumed responsibility for Aboriginal affairs. Uncle Kevin remembers missing the 1964 Games as he was “chasing women” at the time, but then went on to compete for Australia in the 1968, 1972, 1980 and 1984 Paralympic Games, the Commonwealth Games in New Zealand in 1974 and at two world championships. Hopeful future The body is weary, but PROUD MOMENT: Wheelchair basketballer Kevin Coombs at the opening ceremony of the 1960 Paralympic Games.

the mind is sharp.

At age 79, Uncle Kevin hasn’t quite retired. He’s left behind his 17-year role as an elder with the Koori courts, but he remains on the Melbourne University Murumbarak Committee, which supports Aboriginal students, the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health committee, and at the Broadmeadows TAFE where he brings a voice of reason and understanding as an elder, watching over the indigenous students.

“You get to see kids go through and come out successful,” he said.

Changing the way older non-indigenous Australians see the First Peoples is something Uncle Kevin thinks can be achieved through knowledge.

As Mr Morrison said in his Closing the Gap speech to Parliament in February: “We must see the gap we wish to close not from our viewpoints, but from the viewpoint of indigenous Australians before we can hope to close it and make a real difference.’’

Picture: Contributed

Uncle Kevin believes that by sitting down and talking to Aboriginal people, seniors can help to lead a change in the Closing the Gap conversation in Australia. “Talking is a wonderful thing,” he enthused. “You get to know people better.”

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Advance Care Planning Week

23–27 March 2020

Learn about advance care planning (ACP) and empower yourself to make your future health care wishes known.

Advance care planning is the process ofthinking about and communicating your preferences for future health care. Advance care plans are used in a situation where you are unable to speakfor yourself, for example, if you are ill or injured.

What do you do now? Discuss your wishes, values, beliefs and health care preferences with your family, friends and health care providers. Make choices about your future health care and quality-of-life. Download advance care planning documents from mycaremychoices.com.au and document your choices. Your GP or family/friends can assist you. Send copies ofyour completed documents to the Office ofACP: • Email: acp@health.qld.gov.au • Fax: 1300 008 227 • Post: PO Box 2274, Runcorn Qld 4113 Contact the Office ofACP for more information or support on 1300 007 227.

* You can also upload your ACP documents to your My Health Record.

The Office of Advance Care Planning – Queensland Health, provides a free and confidential service to all Queenslanders. • The Office ofACP receives and reviews completed ACP documents from all care environments in Queensland. • Effective documents are uploaded to the Queensland Health electronic medical record and accessed by doctors when needed.

Call ourfriendly, experienced team tobookyournexttouringholiday or tojoin oneofour UpliftTours special groupdepartures. 1300 484 510 (07) 5513 1086 E: groups@uplifttours.com www.uplifttoursandtravel.com

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YULEFEST IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS

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06 - 10 JULY 2020 Join uson this5-day Yulefestshort break exploringtheverybest of thisiconicregion. ThisWorld Heritage Listed area offerssome ofthemost unique scenery and culture attractionsin NSW. Enjoy a veryspecial Yulefestdinner, with an atmosphere of Christmas! Relax and enjoy all thisiconic Australian Wildernesshason offer.

‘‘ This very Australian getaway has all the creature comforts you need to unwind.

There’s plenty to admire on the Zodiac Trail. Get away to the Tweed Valley FEEL THE SERENITY: Tweed Valley has much to offer. Pictures: Shirley Sinclair

Shirley Sinclair

IT IS so quiet. Quiet as only the Australian bush can be. The unmistakable laugh of far-off kookaburras breaks the prolonged silence.

Then a whipbird. Quickly, tranquillity returns, leaving only the slight rustling of leaves around us.

From our comfy chairs on the undercover veranda, the break in the eucalypts reveals a herd of dairy cows on their morning graze and a smattering of farmhouses amid grand sprawling trees below, climbing past cleared grasslands and forests to the prized vista: the summit of Wollumbin Mount Warning. This is what we’ve been waiting for. Our arrival the previous afternoon in this rainforest canopy had been met with cloud cover and a smoky haze from distant bushfires over the border in Queensland.

But the morning breeze has cleared the air and uncovered the reason behind the name of our villa: Mountain View.

But we’re certainly not roughing it in the bush. We’re sampling the hospitality of Mistere Spa and Retreat, Urliup, in

The undercover veranda at the aptly named Mountain View villa. Soak up the lushness from the Waterfall View villa’s spa bath.

northern NSW – three spacious, luxury selfcontained villas that offer the privacy and downtime we’ve been craving.

This very Australian getaway (pronounced, aptly, like “mist” and air”) has all the creature comforts you need to unwind – from the soft sophistication of the modern four-poster bed, electric fireplace and airconditioning to the bespoke timber coffee table and warm embrace of the spa bath.

This is how to get away from it all … without being away from it all.

The “secret” retreat in the stunning Tweed Valley is hidden amid 52ha of idyllic,

The beautifully appointed Mountain View villa.

pristine rainforest. Yet Murwillumbah is only 10 minutes (8km) away, down and around our mountain road, then a few bends further on to the west.

Cabarita Beach – where we came from yesterday – lies only half an hour east. A flatscreen TV, Wi-Fi and great mobile phone coverage are waiting for you – if you can’t do without them.

So are boutique shopping and restaurants in Murwillumbah (and I highly recommend Bacaro Restaurant Bar for authentic Italian). And you could spend hours playing board games and chess or reading a host of books and tourism information.

It’s so much nicer putting down the remote control, leaving the phone in the handbag and tuning in to the wildlife, which can range from “growling” male koalas looking for mates to mountain brushtail possums to shy wallabies, cheeky goannas and water dragons, plus birdlife including owls on lamp posts, exotic parrots and tiny kingfishers. The Urliup villas – Mountain View, Fountain View and Waterfall View – previously were known as Wychwood but were totally cosmetically renovated to officially open on Remembrance Day (November 11) in 2017.

While Fountain View and Waterfall View sit by the perch-filled dam, Mountain View has a beautiful outlook to Wollumbin Mt Warning. After breakfast, we decide to take a stroll on the Zodiac Trail to find our Year of the Water Tiger. It’s one of two pleasant walks that are filled with sculptures and oddities, flowering plants and massive trees. We take our time reconnecting with nature – and each other. And in less than 24 hours, I’m ready to face the real world again. AT A GLANCE: What: Regal Retreats’ Mistere Spa and Retreat. Where: 1110 Urliup Rd, Urliup, NSW.

The villas can be occupied by one couple for the ultimate in privacy or by groups and families. Breakfast baskets and barbecue packs are available to buy before check-in. Regal Retreats prides itself on unique Australian accommodation.

Info: Visit www.mistere spaandretreat.com or call 0411 052 759 to book.