FROM GUNNEDAH WITH LOVE
John Colemn
Joanna Cochran is a farming wife and mother who could not stand by and watch as Australia detained children at Woomera last Christmas.
Farmer’s wife and mother of four Joanna Cochran, from the cotton and wheat district of Gunnedah in north-west New South Wales, was ‘haunted’ by the sight of children behind razor wire at the Woomera Detention Centre when she went there to deliver a trailer-load of Christmas presents.
She was determined to do something about it—and inspired a national fund under the auspices of the Mercy Sisters to raise funds for refugee children in Australia.
And within three weeks more than $8000 was donated in her drought-stricken region to help the children.
Joanna Cochran, 49, went to Woomera a fortnight before last Christmas with the trailer-load of presents donated by the people of Gunnedah and district.
The reality she encountered at Woomera was breathtaking.
‘You have this great big cage in the desert in the flat, brown fields—out in the middle of nowhere. If people could see them they would want them out. It was just awful.’
Joanna said that her party were initially refused entry by the security
officers who told them the X-ray machines were not working that day.
The group included a QC and a lawyer who quickly pointed out their visit
had been arranged through the Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson who
is from Gunnedah.
‘There was no shade—the people were sitting in the huts all day in the heat. It was quite horrific. Altogether, there were 300 children in the Centre. Fifty were under two and about 50 were unaccompanied minors. The ages of the children ranged from eight to 17 but most were 14 or 15.
‘They were beautiful, very polite and said "thank you".’
The group were refused permission to distribute the presents that day. They returned to Woomera, sorted them for the children and gave them to Fr Jim Monaghan to deliver.
There were, said Joanna, ‘all sorts of toys, ball games, clothes, sweets, shampoo and conditioner…’
Then there were the highly publicised pre-Christmas riots and the presents were delivered to the children by Fr Monaghan a week to 10 days later, said Mrs Cochran.
Joanna Cochran did not visualise that a national fund to help refugee children would stem from her visit, ‘but I was horrified to think of these children held behind bars’ and ‘determined’ to do something about it.
Speaking of the help given by the Deputy Prime Minister, she said: ‘I think he thought it [the trailer-load of presents] was a lovely idea.’
Joanna became the chair of the Refugee Children’s Fund which was launched by Sr Margaret Moore RSM, coordinator of the Sydney-based Mercy Refugee Service, in Gunnedah in August.
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The fund, which is being promoted nationally through the Mercy Sisters’ network, specifically targets children in Australia, some of whom have no parents or relatives.
Sr Margaret described what had happened in Gunnedah as ‘wonderful—a grassroots initiative which starts with two women out of their own experience who want to do something for children in detention centres.’
‘It’s very much a local initiative of country people. I’ve been amazed at the concern and support of country people. They have an influence and they are saying ‘it’s not enough—is there anything we can do’.
‘When you tell the story … people don’t easily leave their homeland—there are usually compelling circumstances. We can too easily make them nameless and faceless.’
Sr Margaret, who has worked in refugee camps in Thailand and coordinates Mercy Volunteers throughout Asia, Africa and Australia, spoke of the value of educating young people on the value of compassion.
‘We can’t live out of laws all the time. Day to day living is on a personal level.
‘The Sisters of Mercy have a long history of supporting and resettling refugees. It comes out of our ethos. We don’t differentiate whether they come by boat or plane or out of a detention centre.’
Even before the national promotion was launched, money began flowing in from the Gunnedah region where the drought was described by the Mercy Refugee Fund’s treasurer Mark Noonan as ‘critical.’
‘The money has been coming in steadily from farmers, professional and small business people,’ Mark said.
Haunted still by the sight of the children behind razor wire, Joanna Cochran had this message for the Australian Government: ‘What have we done? It’s a reflection on our society that we would do this sort of thing.
‘It’s just not right.’
Donations to the Children’s Refugee Fund can be sent to the Mercy
Centre, PO Box 378, Gunnedah, NSW 2380.
Mercy Refugee Services is on line at www.mercy.org.au/refugee
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