Keen to serve seniors
TOWNSVILLE seniors have a new committee on their side who are keen to help improve conditions for and raise awareness of issues affecting older members of the community.
Townsville Regional Committee on the Ageing (TRCOTA) held their annual general meeting in November with Robyn Moore elected president, Vicki Trevanion vicepresident, Peter Phillips treasurer/secretary and Cathy O’toole and Maureen Parry as members.
The committee is planning to develop and improve its presence in the community, particularly in the area of older people and the issues relating to aged care, inclusive community, safety, family relationships, grandparents caring for grandchildren and much more.
TRCOTA was formed in Townsville on March 8, 1976, to protect and promote the interests of seniors in the Townsville region.
The original organisation was formed by a group of doctors, directors of nursing homes and other health and services provider organisations, the Townsville Senior
Citizens Welfare Association and the Townsville City Council.
Before and leading up to the 1970s there were not many organisations to look after the interests, wellbeing and issues facing seniors and the elderly in the Townsville region.
So, under the banner of the Townsville Welfare Council, a subcommittee was formed, which became known as the Standing Committee on Welfare of Aged Persons.
In 1978, it was decided to change the name of the organisation from the Townsville Welfare Council to the Townsville Committee on the Ageing because of the many issues that were identified by the Standing Committee on Welfare of Aged Persons.
It forecast the growing concerns for the future of the ageing population in the region.
There were sustained efforts to improve the situation and it was essential the committee did not relax their efforts.
On September 13, 1994, the Townsville Committee on the Ageing became incorporated and was renamed The Townsville Region Committee on the Ageing Inc (TRCOTA).
This committee acted as an independent, not-for-profit organisation, aimed at protecting and promoting the interests and wellbeing of all seniors in the region and to advocate on behalf of the needs, rights and interests of older people and consumers, giving priority to those suffering injustice, discrimination, the disadvantaged or a disability.
TRCOTA, as it is now known, became an active Chapter Member of the Council of the Ageing Queensland Inc (COTAQ) and the COTA movement throughout
Queensland and Australia.
Monthly meetings are held where people can voice their concerns and share lived experiences and there is a bimonthly newsletter, Voice for Seniors.
Current activities Sing/play/laugh a group who perform include singing at local events and festivals raising awareness of the contribution seniors make to our community as well as GINOS (Grandparents In Need Of Support).
For more information visit the website, www.trcota.com, or visit the Townsville Region Committee on the Ageing Inc Facebook page.
BLOWN away.
This is an appropriate description for four months of the year in tropical Australia.
There have been few years when a cyclone has not devastated some part of the North.
As I write, photographs of Cyclone Damien’s devastation on Australia’s northwestern coast are on our television screen.
It makes one realise how fortunate we are today to be able to see on television screens satellite images that trace the development of cyclones in the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Carpentaria.
Timely warnings of their approach are broadcast on radio and TV, so that we can take precautions.
A hundred years ago, on February 2, 1920, it was a different story when a cyclone struck Cairns.
Several days elapsed before the rest of Australia learned of the devastation in newspapers nationwide.
On February 6, 1920, the Telegraph (Brisbane) carried the banner ‘’Havoc in the North’’, reporting that Cairns and its hinterland had suffered damage amounting to $100,000 when “a heavy wind, blowing on Monday, developed after midnight into the heaviest cyclone which has yet visited Cairns”.
When the storm abated, the Esplanade was covered with debris and trees were uprooted or stripped of leaves.
Streets were flooded and inland towns badly damaged, but it was not until February 28 that illustrations appeared in The Queenslander.
It is hard to imagine now in our modern world.
Motor cars and trucks were not in common use.
Even if they were, the road networks were primitive.
No railway connected Cairns with the capital of the state at Brisbane – ‘‘a thousand miles away’’.
There was not even a railway line connecting Cairns with Townsville.
The only railway from Cairns led to the hinterland, and bridges on that line were badly damaged or flooded in times of cyclones accompanied by heavy rain.
Aeroplane travel was in its infancy.
One could only travel by sea to other parts of the country and overseas.
The only communication with the rest of the world was by telegraph, the lines of which became severely damaged during cyclones.
No radio station existed in
Queensland north of Townsville to provide rapid warning of approaching storms.
No offshore weather stations existed until the Willis Island station was established in October 1921, a result of outcry after the cyclone of the previous year.
Only the steady fall in barometric readings gave any warning that a severe storm was approaching, until light breezes became screaming wind squalls, ripping off iron roofs and demolishing substantial buildings.
It is amazing that so many who survived the cyclone chose to remain, stoically rebuilding and carrying on with their lives.