Now that the dust has had time to settle from yesterday’s magnificent Australia Day celebrations in Cronulla, I have decided to put pen to paper to bring you all up to date with me being awarded the Sutherland Shire's Citizen of the Year Award for 2023.
First of all I would like to say that receiving this award is an incredible honour for me, however I would like to dedicate this wonderful award to my parents, Norma & Allan Warburton & my sister Carol.
While I'm very proud to say, that I am this year's Sutherland Shire Citizen of the Year ‘23. I will now try & explain why. As this has been a 75-year-long journey for the Warburton family.
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Pictured at Cronulla Beach on Australia Day after the Ceremony with the Mayor of the Sutherland Shire, Carmelo Pesce. The festivities performance stage and the magnificent Cronulla Beach are in the backdrop. Photo: Steve Core |
It wasn’t until Carol was five years old that Mum and Dad realised that something was wrong with their daughter. Carol was diagnosed with a mental disability. My parents did not know at the time, but Carol’s disability occurred because my mum suffered from German Measles when she was pregnant with Carol.
While we now know that the disease can have serious complications on an unborn child, this wasn’t known in the 1940s. I am Carol’s little brother, three years her junior. Sadly, Carol & my parents are no longer with us.
Because of Carol’s disability my parents had a plan. They wanted to change the lives of people with a disability. My recollection goes back as far as the 1950s, Mum and Dad along with another four families were the founding members of the Handicapped Children Centre of NSW, (1947) which is now known as Sylvanvale.
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One of my favourite photos and my late sister Carol and me. Photo: Courtesy of Sylvanvale |
It all began at the Baptist Church in Flora Street, Kirrawee. The church allowed a group of ladies who had a child with a disability, including my Mum, to meet in the Church hall. It started off like a playgroup and support group for the parents and the Children. The parents then wanted the chance to give their children an education and to achieve this, they needed to raise funds.
Every Saturday morning we used to participate in a fete at outside the Cronulla Post Office. Dad would work on a chocolate wheel and Mum and the other ladies would sell things they’d sewed, knitted or cooked. Little things like those covered coat hangers and teapot cozies, anything to raise much needed funds.
The Handicapped Children Centre thrived, so much so that the families were able to open a home - the very first Rainbow Lodge - for people with a disability in the Blue Mountains. I have been involved with this wonderful organisation my entire life, helping out wherever I can, volunteering my time and energy to support people with a disability to reach their potential.
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On Cronulla Beach on Australia Day. The Sutherland Shire Council put on a magnificent day of free entertainment for the Shire's nearly a quarter of a million residents. Photo: Steve Core |
I was humbled to learn last year that Leanne Fretten, CEO of Sylvanvale, had nominated me for the Sutherland Shire Citizen of the Year Award for 2023. Yesterday, I was invited to attend the Australia Day Awards in Cronulla Park and low and behold yours truly walked away with the treasured and prestigious Sutherland Shire Citizen of the Year award for 2023 for which I am absolutely over the moon about.
My point is that without the guidance of my wonderful parents I would never have been involved with Sylvanvale or nominated or receive this magnificent recognition for the Warburton family.
These days I am still heavily involved with Sylvanvale to raise money for whatever cause is most important to help people that are less fortunate than myself. Every year since 2015 (except for Covid) with the help of Steve Core (my right-hand man) along with a band 30-loyal Volunteers from Qantas who l used to fly with as an International 'Trolly Dolly' organise the Sylvanvale Pre-WWII Vintage Car show to raise much needed funds for Sylvanvale.
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Cronulla Park provides a natural amphitheater for Australia Day festivities in Cronulla. You can see that people have their blankets and tarps pegged out for the evening's entertainment and fireworks. Photo: Steve Core |
The 2023 Sylvanvale Pre-WWII Vintage Car Show will once again be held on the asphalt in the Council car park in Flora Street, Sutherland on Sunday September 17th. What I am asking you to do is to write this date down in your papyrus diary because this event is not to be missed. It is a wonderful day out for the whole family to feel, touch, smell, and admire 150 Classic Vintage motor vehicles built before 1939 with all monies raised going to a wonderful cause.
In finishing off this story before I hang up the gloves on this blog I have a few thoughts that I would like to share with you and why I do what I do. As a child growing up I can remember vividly the struggles the foundation families of the Handicapped Children of NSW experienced. I remember those early days when they didn’t have enough money to rub two copper coins together.
Today, from those very humble beginnings Sylvanvale supports 750 people, we have forty Group homes throughout Sydney and the Blue Mountains, and wait for this, Sylvanvale has an annual turnover of $70 million. My dear old Dad used to say to me with his words of wisdom. “Son, don’t ever think you can’t make a difference in this world”.
I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed reading just a little of the Warburton family’s journey through life.
Sincerely
Ken Warburton
NB: Now I have to head back to Phoenix, Arizona today to continue my planned vacation. So I'm hopping on Skippy, for another Qantas trans-Pacific flight this morning.
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