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October 14-20, 2021 Dubbo Photo News
Because the Dubbo Region is the best place to build your career DUBBO WORKS is highlighting the excellent career and learning opportunities the Dubbo region offers. DUBBO WORKS is a community-building initiative brought to you by Fletcher International Exports and Dubbo Photo News. To contribute ideas, email dubboworks@dubbophotonews.com.au phone 6885 4433.
GROWING BACK TO NORMAL
Native plants grow into a social nest By JOHN RYAN
Dream come true: Rob Riley, with son Nathan, at their nursery’s new site at Old Ganarrin. PHOTO: DUBBO PHOTO NEWS
THE native plants have landed and Rob Riley couldn’t be happier. He loved working at the site of the former ICAN nursery in the old Forestry block opposite the RAAF Base but says welding his varied operations into the location at Old Ganarrin Nursery has worked like a charm. “After a couple of years in the wilderness of not really knowing where we were going to be, after NSW Forestry eventually sold the Cobra Street site, the NSW government basically sold the site from underneath us, but we’ve landed on our feet I think here in this location and we’re here, basically, for the next decade and I think it’s probably bigger and better than what we ever could have expected,” he told Dubbo Photo News. He says while the nursery is a large part of the activities, the whole concept behind Pathways Together Aboriginal Corporation is about far more than simply selling native plants. “We can’t wait to get back into our programs – obviously Covid-19 has affected the Aboriginal community pretty harshly here in Dubbo, it’s been really tough for a lot of people,” he said.
“I know within my own family there’s a large number who contracted Covid-19, thankfully most have got through that and that has gone right across the whole community. “I think there’ll be a lot of people who’ll be crying out for assistance so we’ll be running our unemployment, school and carer programs. We’ve now got a café as well so we’re hoping to do some cooking classes and make it a café with a little bit of a different spin.” Mr Riley said the many people who benefitted from participating in the various ICAN programs have been giving great feedback about how much they’ve missed social interaction and the opportunity for personal growth during the immense dislocation of participation that came with the lockdown. “So every day we’d have a phone call from someone asking when they can come back, even if it’s just coming out for a cup of tea, or sit in the garden and unfortunately they haven’t been able to do any of that.” And while the uncertainty of the past two years was difficult, he believes the new site is made to order not just for the retail business side of things, but in so many ways that aren’t so easily
accounted for in a balance sheet or financial ledger by which society these days seems to be judged. “Everyone who’s come here has spoken about just the different feel that it has to our old nursery,” he said. “The forestry land felt to us like a comfortable site but now we’re here we’re just realising the atmosphere and amenity is the next level, because I think, we’re truly connected back to the river so I think for Aboriginal people that was our lifeblood and just being so close with that connection I think will really help.” He believes that ambience will not only help with sales, but also in the cultural sense when program participants will feel that positive impact on their mental health. “We’re open for business and can’t wait to show people what we’ve got out here. “I’ve handed the nursery over to our charity, so Pathways Together Aboriginal Corporation has the nursery now and it’s trading as Old Ganarrin Nursery and Café, while ICAN is still doing our school programs and still doing some of the other activities that we’ve been running for a decade.”
Exciting times! PCYC the happiness hub
By JOHN RYAN
IT was exciting interviewing Dubbo PCYC manager Emily Ross, because she was so excited to have kids back in the building. In fact, this interview contained the word “exciting” more than any other. “It is so exciting, I honestly couldn’t wait,” she told Dubbo Photo News, while wearing a huge smile of joy and relief. “I’ve missed them. I was so excited to call all the staff and let them know we’d be opening the doors and everyone else said they’d been missing the kids as well. “Whatever your day may bring, when you see smiling kids coming through the door it makes any day good.” The one message that came through loud and clear down at the PCYC was that working there is far more than just showing up for a job. Emily said staff have an immense culture of being passionate about creating human happiness. “I think everyone here’s the same. If you enjoy what you do, you don’t work a day in your life and I truly believe that here, everyone here is passionate and has a commitment to the youth of our community.” Many of the youngsters, she
I’m excited! Dubbo PCYC manager Emily Ross. PHOTO: DUBBO PHOTO NEWS
says, treat the PCYC as their second home and there have been many remote interactions between staff and their charges during the lockdown period which show just how important such a safe and fun place is for so many young Dubbo lives. “It has been tough. A lot of our staff have found it tough as well as the kids. A lot of our gymnastics
coaches for example participated here as kids in the program and then moved into coaching and I think the fact we’re reopening is that little bit of light for them, that they’re able to come back to the PCYC,” she said. The semi-chaotic, organised mayhem of the super successful Friday night police programs have proved so crucial for so many local
kids and their families. Emily says everyone has been missing those evenings and while she’s not sure when they’ll get back underway, she’s hoping the regulations will evolve to allow them to resume as soon as is safely possible. “I don’t know when that will happen or what that’s going to look like. We’ll obviously be guided by health guidelines with that and
what we can actually do to ensure that everyone stays safe as well. “When we put the reopening post up we had so many kids messaging us saying they couldn’t wait to be able to come back. We had voice messages from kids saying thank you so much for letting us come back, it’s really, really exciting. “I love it. I get goosebumps. I had one of my staff come in, in tears, because one of her kids had sent her a voice message saying thank you so much for letting me come back. I think that just shows the passion of our staff and the importance of what we do here.” She said the lockdowns had created fracture lines across the community with so many people forcibly separated from family and friends. That rebuilding of community, she says, is one of the great strengths of Dubbo PCYC, where relationships blossom between everyone involved. “It’s gorgeous to see the relationships grow. Some of our kids in kinder gym come in and do their class and then they’re waiting outside putting their shoes on, they’re all excited and go next door for a milkshake with their friends so you see those relationships grow and blossom in and outside of class.”