This collection explores the pandemic’s impact and contributes a record of this remarkable time in history.
Post interview with Brad Ness, five-time Paralympian and Head Coach of Basketball at the West Australian Institute of Sport. Photo: Centre for Stories.
As part of the State Library of Western Australia’s Oral Histories program, this collection of audio and written stories documents experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic that hit Australia in early 2020.
At the time I had interviewed elite athletes around the world and from those conversations I knew we could learn a lot about building resilience in our lives.
Against the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020, I developed and led a series of interviews with West Australian Olympians in collaboration with the Australian Olympic Committee, to shape the dialogue about the power of sport to drive positive social change. This is the first time in the collection’s 130-year history that sport has been featured. While The Guardian reported from the Tokyo Games, the writer referenced these interviews to build out his story.
Listen here to my conversations with five-time Paralympian Brad Ness, Hockeyroos Goalkeeper Rachael Lynch, Wheelchair Racer Robyn Lambird, Runner Peter Bol and World Champion in Laser (sailing) Matt Wearn.
In February 2021 the Wooroloo Bushfire burnt more than 10,000 hectares and caused extensive damage to properties within the City of Swan and Shire of Mundaring in Western Australia. Nearly a year on from the devastation, I visited affected residents like Walter (pictured here) to learn how they’re rebuilding.
Of 86 properties affected by the Wooroloo Bushfire, Walter was the first to rebuild. As part of the Department of Fire and Emergency Services Recovery Communications team, I collaborated with the Department of Communities to share stories from affected residents about their recovery journeys. The stories were published in a private Facebook group, DFES Wooroloo Bushfire Recovery, which I managed and led to help people recover and access State Government resources. Storytelling served as a connection point to help people heal by relating to each other’s journeys. In November 2021 I visited Walter, 73, a long-time Gidgegannup resident, who lost his 40-year-old cedar house to the bushfire:
“Every day is a new day because I’ve still got my life. You lose a lot of personal things, but my life is more important than my house and my cars. I lost every photograph, but I’ll get photos from my kids, have them enlarged and put them back on the walls.”
Positive Stories of Systemic Change:
How Indigenous youth and West Australian police are building better relationships. A proactive media outreach program in collaboration with not-for-profit Nutha Way.
Nutha Way is an Indigenous youth-led program that builds better relationships between young people, their community, the justice system and local police. To counteract negative news headlines about Indigenous incarceration in Western Australia, I developed, led and executed a regional and national media campaign that presented positive, systemic solutions from youth and local police in Coolgardie, Western Australia.