“I’m 34 and I was born in Adelaide. I spent 3 years on my mothers homeland then my parents moved to the East Coast of Australia. We ended up in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast. I’m one of 6 kids. I have an older sister Yvonne then comes me, my brother Robbie, my sister Yo-di, then Mark and David.
My Dad basically brought us all up. A very self sacrificing father whom I admired. He’s since passed away 3 years ago. He was a hard man for the right reasons and I laugh about the things that seemed like crap when we were kids but I do miss him. He was a good dad. I hadn’t seen my mum for 18 years and I’ve just recently reconnected via Facebook. I found out that I have a stepsister who lives in South Australia. Her name is Jade and she’s just recently had a child so it’s nice to have this extended family and know that Mum is basically down the road from her. I’ve spoken to her on the phone. It would be great to see my mum as I basically grew up being friends with everyone elses mum. I was that type of kid that got along with everyone and respected everyone elses mum. I was always shocked because Dad was such a hard man and we’d go to someone elses house and they’d backchat. I’d be thinking, I can’t believe they just got away with that.
I moved here to Evans Head 7 years ago. I was a concreter and I was a bit reckless, blowing the money. I was playing footie for the Lismore Swans and our grand final game was the one that went to the Footie Show. I loved playing footie but it always crossed over with other sports. I was into Surf Life saving and distance swimming as well. I loved the surf club concept, the nippers and surf life saving culture because it’s very family orientated. We got to hang out with Hayden Kenny who is Grant Kenny’s old man, our ultimate legend. I was very fortunate that my Dad put me into places where I was able to see life experiences.
I met Cathy Freeman and in my eyes she is one of our greatest assets. I was blown away. I was walking to a plane, I glanced into one of the shops and I saw her face. I dropped my bag and I walked to her with my arms open wide and I hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. OMG I was just frothing. I gave my phone to a lady to get a photo of us. It was a surreal moment and she was so lovely. Just epic!
My family is into music. My brothers and sisters do professional Aboriginal dancing up the Sunny Coast and my twin brothers are awesome on the didge. They played the opening for the Goodwill games. They’ve played with Jack Johnson and Xavier Rudd a couple of times. My siblings all have kids so I’m looking forward to them all coming here to Evans. I just want to catch up with them.
I worked in the mines for 3 years and was doing 6 flights a week to work. I’d take my swag as I couldn’t be bothered wasting money on hotels. It was so draining and I never liked it. The money was great but I’m not the type of person that loves money more than my life. I wanted to find a job that suits me and I love being around the water so I’ve started studying for my Masters 5 to be a Captain.
I work with the best team at ‘Quattro’ in Lennox Head. I love it. It’s the best team I have ever worked with in my life. We are so in tune. The music’s on, we’re all dancing and singing while we work. Work just gets pumped out, no hassles. It’s so nice to work in an environment like that. I can do my studies, I get to surf. You need to be happy with what you do for work. No-one wants to feel stressed as they head to work each day.
At the surf club we teach the grommets how to surf, make sure they’ve got sunscreen and go for a wave with them. They love it. My best mate Jaz and I would be having a coffee and 8 of them coming up stirring us. I love their energy. I love the young kids that live in this area to come here. We want to use the beach. We have this incredible place and it doesn’t get utilised enough. Everyone just goes to the pub. It’s not the atmosphere you want to see here. I see the bigger picture. You show the kids options in an environment that’s safe and grounding, you have good music at the surf club, you get your family to come. We could have markets in the carpark, Sunday Sessions overlooking the beach. Everyone knows everyone so if someone plays up everyone knows. You know community is so important for our young kids. We have really good kids in this town but not enough role models. I really hope these kids get more options because there’s not enough things in town. There’s not really any cool cafes or places where our kids can get work experience. This is why I want to get my Masters so I can train kids to do barge work, indigenous kids, give them real jobs. A job where you can work anywhere in the world. You know lack of options creates boredom and that’s when they injure themselves, take drugs and I don’t want them to go down that path.”