Maggie (formally a Stewart, a clan known for their loyalty) and Ronnie Burns of Appin Hall, have been awarded Member of the Order of Australia Medals for the work they do to ease and enhance the life of disadvantaged children.
I saw Ronnie Burns last Saturday night doing what he is best known for, playing music. On this occasion it was with the stars of the ‘Go Show’, a TV program that began the careers for many an Australian musical legend 50 years ago. Compare on the night John Young, Ronnie tells me has valuably assisted Appin Hall by comparing some of their events and encouraging Ronnie to talk about the work of Appin Hall on John’s Perth Radio show.
After that evening of celebration, it was on Monday that I spoke to Ronnie about another celebration, the ‘Celebrate The Child Concert. As usual Ronnie was busy working at Appin Hall, this time organising a band of workmen.
Ronnie with his wife Maggie is founder of Appin Hall, an haven in Tasmania for disadvantaged children, whether by sickness or difficult living conditions. The hall has opened its doors to young people for an unbelievable 17 years. Maggie and Ronnie had been set for retirement in Tasmania, a place they saw as epitomising the beauty and tranquillity they desired, but any plans for retirement were thrown out the window once they hosted their first child, a boy. They said it wasn’t a case of helping one child and saying they had achieved that but the beginning of along term commitment to children living in or going through difficult circumstances.
Appin Hall takes its name from the location of Maggie’s clan, the Stewart clan in Scotland. Appin like Tasmania boasts a scenic coast and is ‘a combination of seascapes and rugged and mountainous country’.
Like Tasmania, tourism is a major industry of Appin. The Stewart’s were known as the ‘loyal’ clan and that attribute has made its way into the DNA of Maggie and her husband. This loyalty can be seen in many stories of this couple’s work. Ronnie tells me that there has been occasion when a visiting family have been travelling from Eaglehawk Neck to Appin Hall and Maggie cooked them a warming lasagne and with equal warmth afterwards has taken them to a room that has beanies, scarves and other donated items so they might pick something to take home with them.
Ronnie sees his arrival in Tasmania all those years ago as an answer to deep personal questions of who he was and what his life purpose was. In Appin Hall he found those answers.
The aim of the hall is to help young people doing things tough to be tuned into a different lifestyle, away from what might be called ‘false entertainment’, the world of mod cons but Ronnie makes it clear that the kids mobile devices are not confiscated but instead the children are encouraged to set those devices aside for a while to experience some old fashioned values, communication and work together as a community. The kids are shown how to work with their hands, plant seeds, so as to learn where food comes from, make plum puddings, learn how to bottle and preserve fruit and, with the help of possibly a generous reader of this article, learn how to churn butter.
Appin Hall is also a refuge for families, and although their attendance is seasonal, usually in the warmer months and predicted to pick up in September. This year Appin Hall has hosted many successful camps for children, among them a young carer’s camp for siblings on the North Coast and in January a camp for teen mum and dads.
Ronnie tells me that 85 percent of the visitors to Appin Hall are Tasmanian children. Additionally, some children are sourced from the mainland. Children are referred by doctors, social workers and word of mouth. The children that visit may be suffering from serious illness, abuse or trauma. Someone mentioned to Ronnie that taking these children out of their difficult situation for respite was all very well but eventually the children had to return to the same conditions. Ronnie’s answer to this is that being at the hall for whatever amount of time gets the children to see another way of life and potentially something they can aspire to and gives them hope.
This year the fourth ‘Celebrate the Child’ concert will take place on Saturday August 30th. The show boasts appearances, among others, by Colleen Hewett, Marcie Jones and Lucky Starr of the “I’ve been everywhere” fame.
If anyone out there has a butter churn they don’t need please get in touch with Ronnie at Appin Hall Children’s Foundation:
Phone: 03 6492 1266; Email: [email protected]
Paula Xiberras
