June 2025
Dear friends of SpringDale and friends I have yet to meet,
Over the last few weeks I was lucky enough to have a quick trip to Sydney for a conference. We went by public transport and used public transport for almost every transition. We walked to the bus stop in High Street Drysdale, caught the train from Geelong to Melbourne and then on the XPT train to Sydney. With a Seniors card, I think that whole journey cost less than $50 and without a Seniors card it cost approximately $100. We did get a taxi to the apartment as we had a deadline to meet, or we might not be able to pick up the key, that evening.
I love using public transport. I love seeing people and places that you may never see elsewhere, and the convenience of it, being able to navigate and plan, to hope that everything will come together the way we planned, and also being able to problem solve as needed.
The conference was at the Sofitel and we made our way to the first event, only to realise that there are 2 Sofitel Hotels in Sydney and we were not at the correct one. Drats, a quick taxi (because we maybe didn’t have time to walk to the correct Hotel) and we were on track for a great conference.
From my perspective, the best part of the conference was the session by Dr Jordan Nguyen – if you get a chance to hear him speak or see him on the TV or YouTube, I think you will be impressed too. Creating or enhancing keyboards for use by people who cannot type with their hands, but control the typing with eye movements and enabling people to drive using just eye movements – so inspiring.
I love hearing inspiring people, their words feed my hunger to learn more and to be able to increase my understanding of the world we live in and how it all works. I also heard the Governor of NSW speak about a few historical events that I didn’t remember and definitely didn’t understand their importance.
In 1973 legislation was passed to make Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of Australia. The next step was to change the National Anthem to Advance Australia Fair in 1974 (we reverted back to God Save the Queen two years later, but it eventually became the National Anthem again in 1984). In 1975 the Order of Australia was established. I found it interesting to hear about these 3 changes, that happened in my lifetime and the significance of the order in which they were made.
I remember the first time I saw a sports person standing on a dais, Advance Australia Fair being played after her gold medal had been awarded, I felt so proud to be Australian and it felt so right to hear our National Anthem being played.
We met 2 interesting couples and enjoyed chatting about their parts of Australia, Albany and Canberra. We reminisced trips to those places and enjoyed learning about their lives.
The short trips, that we make during the year, help to keep me energized and ready to face all the opportunities that my fabulous vocation gives me. Earlier in the year the trip to Adelaide and the Chihuly Glass, this trip to Sydney and later in the year I look forward to going to the Asia Pacific Autism Conference in Perth. I promise to share learnings as the opportunities arise.
Yours kindly,
Anne Brackley OAM
Chief Enthusiasm Officer & Coordinator
SpringDale Neighbourhood Centre Inc.
