2 minute read
Feature Interview: Major Brendan Nottle
Supernal Interview
Major Brendan Nottle
by Anthony Kilner
Sitting Bourke Street across the road from the heart of the Salvation Army, I pondered the plight of Melbourne’s increasing homelessness problem.
It was a brisk winter morning and as I sat at the café waiting for my meeting with Major Brendan Nottle, stalwart for the Salvos and all-round nice guy, I considered if I could sleep rough when I can’t stand the cold – I shivered at that thought!
It’s Monday the 5th August and the official start of Homelessness Week in Australia. Homelessness is a huge Australia-wide problem that is not an easy one to tackle, as it involves governments at local and state level and the city councils. It also involves big charities such as the Salvation Army, as well as many smaller ones, more importantly though, it involves the whole community.
Brendan, a recognised Melbourne personality for change, has been involved with the Salvation Army for around 22 years. He felt a calling to work with people needing help because of his family. They had needed help and the Salvos had stepped in and his life changed.
Brendan walked across the road and my education into the issues around homelessness began.
Q: What sort of demographics do you see in the Salvation Army café?
A: Predominantly, in the past our services have been working with Caucasian males from their 40s to 60s. Over the last couple of years though, we have seen a major increase in the numbers of women and children.
Add to that, several years ago we only saw a few indigenous people, around 10 or so and these days we are seeing 50 to 60. There is a growing population of homeless here in Melbourne and around the country.
Q: With women making up nearly half of the homeless population do you get an understanding of why?
A: To understand that I want to go back a bit. We have around 46 houses around Melbourne working with Magpie House, which mostly catered for men. Nowadays, we have around 23 of those houses taken up by women and children. In fact, we have 30 children in the program.
These are women escaping family violence. What often happens is, when the violence blows up, the woman escapes. Many times, they will stay at family and friends (this support often dries up with time), in the hope that things might settle down at home and they can go back. Often things don’t. They then end up on the streets with no-where else to go.
