MATURE HELPER IS YOUNG AT HEART
Runaway Bay widower Don Robertson jumped at the chance to help out at the Games. The 92-year-old – the oldest volunteer for the event – is a shining example of the spirit uniting the city behind our sporting showcase, writes Dwayne Grant.
ON THE November morning in 2011 that his home town won the right to host the Commonwealth Games, Don Robertson had a thought – followed quickly by another.
“I said to myself: ‘I’m going to volunteer at the Games’ and then realised I’d be bloody 92 by then,” the Runaway Bay widower laughs. “I thought: ‘You silly old bugger, what are you thinking?’ But I still ended up having a go … I just love talking to people.”
That’s just as well because, come April, Don is going to be talking to a lot of people.
Eight years shy of receiving a birthday letter from the Queen, the sprightly nonagenarian will be one of the smiling faces volunteering in spectator services at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre.
And it’s fitting that the Games’ oldest volunteer will be poolside after serving as a swimming official the last time Queensland hosted the Commonwealth’s biggest sporting event.
“I was a starter at the swimming in Brisbane,” Don recalled of the 1982 Commonwealth Games. “I spent years travelling to swim meets around the country. I’d take annual leave and make my own way there but when I put up my hand for the Games, I couldn’t believe it.
“I lived in Newcastle and they sent me an air ticket to Brisbane. They had a driver waiting for me at the airport. I got accommodation, meals – everything for nothing after paying my own way for 30 years.”
Don also played a small part in history, starting the races that saw superstar Tracey Wickham power her way to gold.
“Even though there was separation (between officials and swimmers), you became friendly with them and Tracey was one of those you couldn’t help but like,” recalls Don, who still swims 600m each day himself.
“I started her in so many different races and (GOLDOC) actually arranged for her to meet with me just before Christmas. I wasn’t sure she would re-
HE’S A WONDERFUL EXAMPLE OF WHAT VOLUNTEERING IS ABOUT AND HE WILL SET THE EXAMPLE FOR EVERY OTHER VOLUNTEER PREMIER ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK
member me but she did, which was lovely.”
Don’s status as our oldest Games volunteer has seen him become accustomed to meeting big names in the lead-up to the event. Last week it was Annastacia Palaszczuk’s turn during a visit to GOLDOC’s Ashmore base.
“I think he’s wonderful,” the Premier said. “He’s a wonderful example of what volunteering is all about and I think he will set the example for every other volunteer who will be at these Games. “He’s absolutely extraordinary.”
As is his emotive tale of how he found his mojo again after grieving the loss of his beloved Kay after a years-long battle with Alzheimer’s.
“That was a bit of a dead time for me,” Don says of the period after his wife’s death eight years ago.
“I had always stayed active after I retired … but it took me a while to get over that. I actually found I was getting to the stage that I was sitting around, doing nothing and was almost starting to vegetate.
“Then the Arts Centre brought me back to life. I saw a movie advertised in the Bulletin but it took me three days to get there. I kept putting it off and eventually made the effort.
“The woman at the cafe then told me about another movie I’d like so I was back there two days later.”
From little things big things grow, with Don now a proud member of Friends of the Arts Centre, the Gold Jazz and Blues Club – and a Commonwealth Games volunteer.
“I didn’t know I’d be the oldest volunteer,” he says. “It certainly wasn’t my intention but I feel good … I’m very rarely home.”
And with that it was time to say goodbye because Don had somewhere else to be. He was off to the Arts Centre to see a movie.