Recently Charlie Fay from Bugalwena Health Service spoke of his involvement in starting up the Bugalwena Men's Group. This is Charlie's story.

Bugalwena’s Men’s Group was established with the notion of getting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island males together for a yarn and a feed. The idea we had was to set up a place (safe Place) where our lads could gather and tell their stories and talk of different issues such as health, relating to their journeys in life and community.

We have 15 males that regularly attend gatherings. The men’s group is held every fortnight on a Thursday. There are quite a few elders, so the younger males can yarn and be guided by their wisdom. It is also a chance for the younger lads to be able to let the elders know about what is happening in their lives, this is all done by transfer of knowledge.

We have some lads attending from Miraki Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation (Gold Coast Drug Council), this experience is invaluable for the lads as they get in touch with their Aboriginality and talk to elders about problems that they may have while in rehabilitation. This also enables them to learn more about culture and other important issues such as loss of identity and the loss of culture.

Miraki has also played a part by allowing one of their graduates to drive a Tarago to and from the men’s group; this has played a part in empowering Dennis and building his leadership skills.

Morning tea is provided along with a B.B.Q lunch that is cooked by the lads who attend which is a great way of building the capacity and empowering the men.

Once they have been attending the group for 3-4 weeks they are presented with a polo shirt and cap, this encourages them to maintain involvement within the group and gives ownership to these lads and helps them to promote the group to other interested males.

We have a great support network on the Tweed and Gold Coast and are in contact regularly with many local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Men’s Groups (Beaudesert, Logan and Gold Coast) and Mibbinbah’s Jack Bulman with his help has made it possible for the groups on the Tweed and Gold Coast to have contact with each other.  The groups on the Tweed and Gold Coast catch up with each other 3-4 times a year which is a great day for yarning and also to see what is working and not working in other communities. We also catch up at Beaudesert and other locations on the Coast. The lads from Beaudesert like to get a bit of salt air then back to the red dust. They also enjoy a good feed of fresh fish (sea mullet) which is Shane Paulson’s favourite.

I also take the men to different locations on the Tweed and Gold Coast where a lot of the older lads have worked such as “Little Nerang Dam” which many of the elders helped build and have great memories and stories to share. We invited Jack Bulman and Craig Williams who is an traditional Gold Coast owner, So Craig should know the area quite well, but Craig got lost. (Sorry brother couldn’t help myself) Ha, Ha. The Elders have many yarns about their working days in the Tweed area, many have worked on the sand works projects and also the fishing industries and have many stories in relation to my dad that I didn’t know about and most funny, which is good to hear. They all got up to a lot of mischief and now know that I had nothing to worry about growing up.

I was also able to obtain some funding to take the men to an NRL Titans match and this was another great day of yarning and reminiscing.   There was talk about how good we were when we played and reckon we could still run around, that is until we get of our seats with bad backs, sore knees, arthritic joints and poor eye sight.

As a Christmas breakup, I was able to get some funding to take the men up on Tweed Endeavour Cruises. This was another great day of yarning, storytelling and transfer of knowledge.

I have been working in this role as Men’s Health Coordinator for 5 years, every time I facilitate a men’s group I walk away having learnt something new.

I encourage other men who are involved with men’s groups write and tell us your stories.

Let’s celebrate what we are doing in communities around Australia.

Take care my brothers’ stay strong and be there for one another.

Yours Charlie Fay

Bugalwena Men’s Group Coordinator