Australia Day is a time for all Australians to reflect, respect and celebrate. What today means to each of us here depends on who we are, where we come from, and how we came to be Australian, said Narrandera’s Australia Day Ambassador Doug Hawkins.
From the First Australians, whose ancestors lived on these lands for tens of thousands of years, to the descendants of settlers, children of migrants and those recently arrived, Australia Day is a day to come together to reflect, respect and celebrate being part of our amazing nation’s story… and a story that is ever evolving.
“We all share a desire for unity, to live and dwell in a safe, stable and prosperous country that we can all call home… and a lot of that prosperity coming from the generations of farmers, and farming communities that have shown such resilience over many years…thank you for your role in building our country.
“Each of us have our own history, and that history shapes us an individuals. But we can celebrate living in a nation where everyone’s views, beliefs and contributions are valued and respected. Today in 2024, Australia Day is an evolving conversation about our identity and we come together as a nation to celebrate our diversity, respect what makes us unique, and reflect on the Australia that we aspire to be – a country that cares – a country that supports, and a country that provides for each one of us,” he said.
Mr Hawkins said his own story started in Bondi in a previous century – and a life by the sea – a life of summers at the beach and any other day that we could be there – today its a world famous location – but to us in the day it was where our story came alive – the ocean and the sand were his second home.
As his life progressed he joined surfing with his other passion… story telling via film making and for many years made surfing films …and these were the days when it was actually film, with real cameras.
2000 was a pivotal year for Mr Hawkins and his family as they joined surf lifesaving via Coogee Nippers – the junior program for surf lifesaving. Now 23 years on they are still heavily involved, Doug patrolling with his wife Heather and their son Callum now his Patrol Captain.
Mr Hawkins had been working with teenagers most of his life though running many school and church camps, plus the skills of the ocean so these thew aspects came together as one – add some business skills in organising, and this gave him options to change things up a bit at local Nippers. Within three years at Nippers he was asked to run the program with no surf lifesaving background- but with a vision of inclusion.
“In 2003 we had 520 Nippers and 15 very hard working dads running the entire program – by 2008 we had 860 Nippers and now 220 Parents – mums and dads all trained and all involved – those Mums and dads now number in the thousands.”
His SLS work has taken him to all levels of SLS being both Club, Branch, State, National and International, and working with many clubs and lifesavers, assisting them in training and delivering effective lifesaving programs and skills.
Since 2012 he has also focussed on the education and training of those from other countries where swimming and the ocean are really an unknown, and now delivering water safety training sessions to people from across the globe – this has included refugee groups – community groups for culturally diverse communities, and hundreds of international students …and even teenagers from regional NSW.
Mr Hawkins’ passion is sharing his ocean skills and water safety knowledge to give people these skills and understandings, so they to can enjoy the amazing ocean, rivers and lakes, and all in the safest way possible..and ensure they can go home with their families.
“But like many of you here today, it’s the why, not the what – it’s why Australia has the largest amount of volunteers per head of capita in the world – from Surf Lifesaving to the CWA, to the SES and RFS, to all the local service Clubs supporting their community, it`s all those people giving of themselves.
“Each of us has skills and knowledge that can make our local and wider communities better – help them grow – help them come together – help them become a community that we are all proud to be part of.
“Australia Day represents all the people of this very special country – a country we are all part of, the country that I have found that is a place where mates support mates, where people from all backgrounds come together and share their own stories, and for each of us here… we benefit by sharing in those stories, and being on that journey with them.”
He encouraged everyone to share a bit about their life story and listen to the personal experiences of others because one is an important part of this Australian story – yesterday – today… and tomorrow.
This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 1 February 2024.
