2018: Celebrating Respect and Trust
Book cover image: “The Mouth That Roared” courtesy of Wild Dingo Press.
Cover photography: Louise Chen.
ISBN: 9780987381361
Guest Speaker Les Twentyman OAM
70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
10th December 2018
The Shirley Burke Theatre in Parkdale was filled to capacity. The topic of this event was Respect and Trust. The new president and chairperson of Kingston for Human Rights, Inc. the Rev Dr Geoff Cheong warmly welcomed everyone as they arrived. After paying tribute to the Kulin Nation, Dr Cheong set the scene recognizing the major milestone of the 70th anniversary of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Dr Cheong gave a succinct overview of how the United Nation's Declaration of Human Rights (1948) came into existence just three years after the end of World War II in 1945, with participating countries such as USSR and China. The world's war ravaged and weary population wanted to alleviate any possibility of more war, and come to an agreed ideal standard for humane treatment of all people, including respect and trust, being this year's theme.
Rev Dr Cheong introduced two special guests, Ken and Sue Gooding who opened our event this year. Ken and Sue are the 2018 Kingston Citizens of the Year. They were awarded this honour for their hard work in creating Pantry 5000. Pantry 5000 provides emergency food relief and ongoing food support for local residents in financial difficulty.
Next, Rev. Dr Geoff Cheong introduced the guest speaker, Mr Les Twentyman OAM. Mr Twentyman is a famous Australian youth outreach worker and community activist. The Les Twentyman Foundation supports youth from all walks of life who are suffering problems. "Patron-in-Chief" of the Les Twentyman Foundation is His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd). Further information about the Les Twentyman Fund can be accessed via their website at https://www.ltfoundation.com.au/.
Mr Les Twentyman gave a wonderful presentation outlining his work with rebellious and disruptive youth, and the successes he has achieved by having older, more mature youths from the various local cultural backgrounds to supervise, advocate and teach their younger counterparts new ways for them to navigate their new Australian environment. It was very positive and inspirational to hear how he had achieved a way to gain these youths' respect and trust.
Les Twentyman's speech at Annual Event 2018
Reproduced by kind permission of Les Twentyman.
Duration: 58 minutes.
Total file size is 480MB. Please consider your personal data allowance costs.
Awarding of the 2018 Student Art Prizes
Students received their awards based on various year level groupings.
Musician
Musical entertainment was provided by singer Ms Nikol McKail vocalist.
Supper
After the event a generous free supper of assorted sandwiches, tea, coffee and soft drinks was provided to all in the foyer.