MEDICUS FEBRUARY 2016

F E A T U R E

I come from Bunbury. In 1961, one year out of Medical School, I travelled to Melbourne en route to the Australian Antarctic Base, Davis. For 12 months, I was Officer in Charge and Medical Officer. These were the days of the husky dogs and no women. On my return, I met Warwick Deacock, the man who had brought renowned community program Outward Bound to Australia. As he explained to me, no one had climbed

Worth fighting for: Dr Malcolm Hay with the tall ship Leeuwin, a dream he refused to give up on. Pic: Captain Sarah Robinson.

build a sail training ship.

Australia’s highest mountain, was I interested? He was talking about Big Ben on Heard Island in the South Indian Ocean. Three years later, I was one of 10 on the Patanela, a 21-metre ex-cray boat for four and half months. Unfortunately, I did not get ashore on Heard Island, let alone climb the mountain. However, five of our crew were successful. Space does not permit more detail of the expedition, but suffice to say the skipper of the Patanela, Bill Tilman has been described as the greatest adventurer worldwide of the 20 th century. He wrote 15 books. In 1974, while working as an Orthopaedic Surgeon here in Perth, I was struck down with serum hepatitis and was off work for six months. During my recovery, I, like so many other Australians, closely followed the America’s Cup. It occurred to me that with all the money being spent trying to win the America’s Cup, for a fraction of that, we could

The whole idea is not really to teach young people sailing, but to help them “grow up” by learning about teamwork, leadership and responsibility. This is best explained by the youth themselves. One young person who attended the progam said: “It can offer something for the disabled, the disadvantaged and the disillusioned.”

Another explained: “I looked into fears’ eyes all around me and I was too scared to blink.”

And yet another captured the very essence of the program when she said: “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

It took some $3.7 million to build the STS Leeuwin II (Dutch for ‘lioness’) and years of stubborn perseverance to raise the funding. The campaign was led by a fine corporate lawyer Rory Argyle. There were also many gifts in kind.

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