Australia’s Governor- General Her Excellency Quentin Bryce spoke at length with Bathurst Correctional Centre inmates yesterday morning as they showed her the work they have been doing at the Wahluu Gamarra Nature Reserve on Mt Panorama.
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The walk in beautiful bushland was a delightful start to a very full day of activities for the Queen’s representative.
The inmates, who are participants in the Community Corrections Partnership Program, have been working at the former Sir Joseph Banks Nature Reserve intensively for the past 12 months.
Inmate Aveen Kumar said Ms Bryce was very interested in how the program works and the impact it has had on their lives.
“She is a very lovely lady,” he said. “She has a lot of empathy and I found her to be very sincere.
“She really liked the idea of us being involved in the community and understood why it is so important in stopping us from re-offending,” Mr Kumar said.
Bathurst Aboriginal Land Council chair Shirley Scott said it was very exciting to have the Governor-General visit the reserve.
She said Ms Bryce shared her love of chooks and spoke about how beautiful the countryside is.
“She absolutely loved it and said she would love to come back when it’s finished,” Ms Scott said. “She said that it feels like a great healing place.
“She is so lovely – a really grand lady. She and her husband are both very down-to-earth people.
“I had no trouble talking to her at all. She had no airs and graces whatsoever.”
Ms Scott said she was very honoured that the Governor- General made Wahluu Gamarra her first stop.
“It was a great privilege for her to come here because she is a representative of the Queen,” she said.
“It was also nice to share that honour with the men who have worked so hard on it.”
Bathurst Correctional Centre governor Bill Fittler also had the opportunity to meet the Governor-General and speak to her about the Community Partnerships Program.
He explained that corrections have had a five-year partnership with the Aboriginal Lands Council.
Four inmates from Bathurst Correctional Centre have been spending two or three days a week up at the nature reserve doing landscaping and building work over the past year.
He said giving something back to the community in this way builds their self esteem and confidence, and greatly reduces the chance of them re-offending.
“It is one of the department’s most successful programs,” Mr Fittler said.
A short time later everyone then gathered on the fenceline to wave and cheer the Governor-General as she motored by in the open George Reed Special.
She rewarded them with a brilliant smile and a hearty wave.
“I’ll never forget that,” Mr Kumar said as he turned to leave.
