By CASEY NEILL
“WE DON’T all have the same set of abilities and wouldn’t that be boring?
“We can all shine together,” guest speaker Simon McKeon told guests at the annual Wallara Dinner under the Stars on Thursday 17 March.
The evening started with canapes in the courtyard at Wallara’s Potter Street headquarters in front of the restored and heritage-listed Sword family home.
“Phil was taking me through this house and all of a sudden I realised it was a home I played in with a very dear friend 55 years ago,” Mr McKeon said.
Wallara executive officer Phil Hayes-Brown said the site was among the first to combine disability with aged care by also housing Wintringham.
“I remember standing here five years ago and it was dirt,” he said.
Dinner and entertainment at The Castle – where Wallara first started supporting adults with different abilities in 1959 – followed.
Wallara clients formed Waiting for the Bus last year after singing to pass the time while waiting for their bus home.
They dressed in bright ’70s clothing and wigs to perform ABBA’s Dancing Queen to rapturous applause.
Wallara clients showed off the public speaking skills they’d learnt through the Wallara Ambassador Program and several videos highlighted how the organisation was helping people with different abilities to live the life they chose.
Mary Kay Australia and New Zealand’s business operations director Catherine Hron spoke about appointing Wallara to handle all storage, warehousing and orders for the group in 2014.
“As soon as I saw the work Wallara was doing, my heart wanted to partner with this great organisation,” she said.
Mr McKeon said he’d encountered some not-for-profit groups that were past their prime, but Wallara was not one of them.
“I don’t see any sign that it’s wearing out past its use-by date,” he said.
“I have never come across a part of this organisation that isn’t what I call ‘best of breed’.
When then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced him as the 2011 Australian of the Year, Mr McKeon said his proud older sister Di Bulman shouted “yes!”
Ms Gillard asked him if he knew the excited audience member.
“I said ‘yes, she’s my sister and I think she’s a very important reason why I’m up here now,” he said.
His divorcee parents started their life together in Dandenong, his mum’s daughter Di in tow.
Di, who has intellectual and physical challenges, reminisced about attending Girl Guide meetings at The Castle.
She told the Journal that she attended both the Dandy West and East schools during her childhood and later worked washing film in her father’s chemist shop, which was now a milk bar.
Mr McKeon remembered the town bourgeoning on market days and manufacturing giants lining Princes Highway.
“It really was the most beautiful place to grow up,” he said.
“Who can remember the Wedge Street pool?
“That was the highlight on a day like today.”
His parents were heavily involved in the community, often hurrying him through dinner so they could clear the table to make way for hospital plans or something else.
“My father helped to set up the Dandenong Club,” he said.
Mr McKeon said he didn’t like using the word ‘disability’.
“It connotes the idea of defects. I just like thinking about ability – what is possible,” he said.
A silent auction, live auction and raffle rounded out the night.
Wallara is still tallying the funds raised from the event.
Watch Waiting for the Bus’s performance.
