WE HONOUR AWARD A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES
CHELSEA AND OWEN: Chelsea Knight and Owen Stillman have been named Tiny Tot Miss and Beau at the Uki Ball. It was a big night for students from Uki Primary School who had been taking dance lessons especially for the occasion. ROGER WELCH OAM
WHILE many may look overseas when it comes to charity it was Dr Roger Welch’s vision for saving the sight of the needy in a rural Australian town which saw him awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia.
Dr Welch, whose achievements also include taking the most comprehensive catalogue of wildflowers found growing in Yuraygir National Park, is founder and principal of the Vision Centre Gold Coast practice headquartered in Southport.
As well as servicing the ophthalmology needs of Gold Coasters, for the past 21 years the world-class surgeon and his team have also made regular pilgrimages to the town of Moree in NSW which has a high indigenous, elderly and under privileged population who otherwise would not have access to this calibre of care.
“I’ve done charitable work in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in the past but I felt the greatest need was here in Australia,” Dr Welch said.
“If people can’t see they can’t function in their daily lives, it puts them at risk of other problems.
“For example, if an elderly person stumbles and falls and breaks their leg that changes their whole perspective on survival and it also places stress on the health service.”
Dr Welch was born in New Zealand, educated at Stanford University in the United States, and did his undergraduate years at the Auckland School of Medicine.
He migrated to Australia in 1989 and commenced practice in an old house in Southport before constructing the new building in Nerang Street which opened in 2000.
Dr Welch is a keen scuba diver and is known for his photographs of flatworms taken off the coast of Wooli.
He has been instrumental in pushing for government action on the environmental issues critical to saving the iconic coastal hamlet through the group Protect Wooli which he helped co-found. MARJORIE: She’s worked with everyone from the chairman of BHP to Sir Bruce Small but that’s only a snippet of Marjorie Allan’s century on the planet. Mrs Allan was born in Daylesford, Victoria, on June 15, 1917. Her family moved to Innisfail when she was 11 where her father was editor of the paper. Mrs Allan attended boarding school in Charters Towers and returned to Melbourne to attend business college. She married in 1948 and lived in New Zealand for a short time and South Africa for many years where she had two children. Mrs Allan returned to Australia in 1963 and, unlike many women of her generation, enjoyed a vibrant career. This included working for the chairman of BHP in Melbourne before moving to the Gold Coast in 1966.
Mrs Allan worked for Sir Bruce Small at his Isle of Capri office before transferring to the council when he became mayor. However, she was not fond of the mayoral meetings and so joined Associated Minerals as secretary to the Director, Joe Pinter, where she remained for 10 years until her retirement at 60.
Mrs Allan’s interests included a great love for travel and she was an avid reader. She is living at Arcare Helensvale St James where she celebrated her birthday with friends.