From Our CEO: Legacy Camp in Busselton

In January, I was fortunate to visit the Legacy Camp that runs in Busselton each year, thanks to the terrific leadership of the WA Legacy team, and the superb support they receive from Defence. 

This camp is designed to bring together children of all ages who have lost a parent through service. This year the camp had about 50 attendees from both Australia and New Zealand, who were provided with some amazing team (and confidence) building experiences, whilst also being provided with a safe space to talk to other children and supervisors, who understand their lived experiences. These camps can change kids lives and build long term friendships and ongoing connections.

The camps themselves include a variety of experiences such as an outing to a nearby ‘high wire’ confidence courses, exposure to native wild animals, education on Māori culture, a range of group challenges, like building rafts, where they learn to work as a team, and lots of time for water sports.  The senior kids arrive first and stay a bit longer, this prepares them to then mentor the junior camp members, whilst always operating under the supervision of an experienced staff member (from either Legacy or from our Defence Force).  

Whilst WA may seem like a long way away, we can fly Victorian kids directly into Busselton with Jet Star. There are no costs for the camp activities, or accommodation (which is owned by Legacy WA), and many of the activities are provided by the Defence force team. This means that we can provide an amazing life experience for Victorian kids in need at a very reasonable cost. We are planning to send a group of at least 12 kids next year. 

Legacy runs many different types of camps, and all are subject to thorough risk assessments to ensure we adhere to the relevant national and state child safety standards.  If you would like to know more about our camps and how you can help to support them, please let us know. 

Mark Dixon, CEO