April 2003

Ash Wednesday survivor is Senior of the Year

A burns survivor from the Ash Wednesday fires has been named the 2003 Victorian Senior of the Year.

Premier Steve Bracks presented the award to 81-year-old Ranald Webster at Government House.

Mr Bracks said doctors had given Mr Webster only a four per cent chance of survival after he suffered horrific burns fighting the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983.

‘It took weeks for his pain to ease, it was months before he left hospital and he had a year of intense physiotherapy to again use his hands.

‘And there were five years of operations before facial scars faded.

‘Mr Webster made a remarkable recovery through his own will to live and with the help of Alfred Hospital staff, family, and friends.

‘He has since devoted his life to helping others.’

Each month, Mr Webster visits patients at the Alfred Hospital’s burns unit and shows them pre-surgery pictures of himself.

‘Mr Webster reassures them if he looked that ill and made it—so can they.

‘He offers hope and inspiration to people at their lowest ebb,’ Mr Bracks said.

Minister for Aged Care Gavin Jennings said Mr Webster epitomised the contribution of seniors to Victoria.

‘For 15 years, Mr Webster drove vision-impaired clients from the Berwick and Pakenham area to medical appointments in Warragul.

‘When his own sight faltered at 80, he stopped driving but still continues in his role as transport coordinator and treasurer of the Pakenham Volunteer Care Group.

‘Mr Webster has made a special contribution to his community and this reward recognises his years of devotion to Victorians in need.’

Mr Webster is also a skilled pianist and organist and plays regularly to the senior residents of Abrehart House in Pakenham.

Mr Bracks and Mr Jennings also presented 10 Senior Achiever awards to outstanding Victorians from across the State.

The winners were:

• Matthew Batters, 84, of St Arnaud. Mr Batters purchased the local newspaper and commercial printing business after it was threatened with closure and the loss of more than a dozen jobs. Mr Batters still actively farms his property with his wife, while working voluntarily for the football club and visiting sick and elderly people. A keen advocate of physical activity throughout life, he coached a Father Versus Sons football team in the district last year.

• Waclaw Kaska, 81, of Albion. ‘Wally’ Kaska is president of the largest Victorian Polish Senior Citizens Club, located in Albion. A former factory worker, he devotes his time to the 300-member club and to helping anyone in need.

• Mavis Jennings, 73, of Portland. Mrs Jennings is a volunteer conductor on Portland’s newest attraction, the cable tram. Mavis also organises craft activities such as knitting items for premature babies and trauma teddies. A retired nurse, she is part of the local hospital’s visitation and Meals On Wheels team visiting the isolated and housebound. She also supervises the Open Door Drop-In centre in Portland.

• Herbert Castleton, 75, of Niddrie. Mr Castleton is actively involved in everything from the Probus Club of Essendon to the Uniting Church, Neighbourhood Watch and the Red Cross. He learnt the banjo at the age of 70, takes a friend with a disability out walking every week and acts as a friend and confidant to older people in the district. This includes changing car tyres, minding and walking their pets, delivering tapes of church services when they are unable to attend and transporting people to hospital.

• Max Solomon, 70, of Lakes Entrance. ‘Uncle Max’, as he is widely known, is loved and respected by local schools for the traditional Aboriginal stories he tells to school students. According to a local principal, he presents a positive role model and conveys a deep sense of pride in his Aboriginality. As a member of the Lions Club of Lakes Entrance, Max regularly volunteers for the 50 or so projects in which the club is involved.

• Dawn Dakin, 67, of Hampton Park. Ms Dakin is involved in numerous activities including the Life Planning Foundation of Australia and her local Life Activities Club. She is also involved in the Cranbourne Park Indoor Walk Project, the Hampton Park Progress Association and the South East Primary Care Partnership-Integrated Disease Management (Diabetes) Project. For six years, Dawn has been secretary of the Retired Officers Division of the CPSU SPSF Group—Victorian Branch, which acts in the interests of retired public servants.

• Basil Smith, 79, of Blackburn. Mr Smith works in a voluntary capacity for the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Service’s Board Retire Ed Program. Since joining the program in 1993, Mr Smith has delivered 120 lectures on fire safety to some 8,000 seniors. His other voluntary work includes maintenance of the Remembrance Garden at the Peter James Rehabilitation Centre, collector for the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal and president of the Blackburn RSL.

• Bea Brewster, 78, of Talbot. Mrs Brewster is secretary of the Talbot Arts and Historical Museum, where she has researched and recorded many aspects of local life. Her most recent endeavour has been the publication of the history of Amherst Hospital, which served the district from 1859 to 1933. Ms Brewster’s six-year project, which records medical treatments of the day, medical and nursing practice and patient and staff details, will be invaluable for anyone compiling family histories in the area.

• Fraser Speechly, 74, of Hastings. Mr Speechly is a volunteer and pastoral carer at the Carinya Residential Aged Care Unit, where he is regarded as having a wonderful ability to relate, not only to seniors but also people with severe cognitive disorders and younger people with psychiatric disabilities. Fraser also acts as an unofficial ‘furniture removalist’—receiving donations of old electrical equipment, such as washing machines and fridges, and delivering them to the homes of needy families. He built the raised garden beds at Frankston Hospital for the benefit of the aged psychiatry unit and is currently raising money for a project in East Timor.

• Beryl Halpin, 69, of St Leonards. Mrs Halpin is a tireless worker within the North Bellarine Peninsula. Her voluntary activity takes in both youth and aged care work and it is due to her efforts that young people in the area have netball courts, skateboard ranks and a playground. She was a founding member of the North Bellarine Hostel for the Aged and is an active member of the Friends of Ann Nichol House. Beryl has also organised the monthly Sunday market at Portarlington, which raises money for the primary school and Ann Nichol House.

The Senior Achiever Awards were conducted jointly by the Government and the Council of the Ageing (COTA) as part of the Victorian Seniors Festival 2003.