AT WORK WITH: Maureen Cameron
visually arresting meditation on
what has gone before, and how
we should go forward. Catholic
school students from Townsville
all the way up to Torres Strait
contributed to the project.
She touches on the need to
always interrogate the
atrocities
and
displacement of
war and our
conversation
shifts back
to
the
concept of
e m p a t h y.
Are
we
becoming
m o r e
charitable
people,
or
are more things
requiring
our
charity?
charitable bodies and not-forprofits who are often grappling
with public perceptions of trust,
transparency and accountability.
When charity focuses on
the power of simple, human
connections rather than guilt
or pressure, it makes sense
that the former is more
successful.
M a u r e e n
elaborates
on
charity
in
Cairns,
s a y i n g
that of her
experience
in
bigger
cities, money
often goes to
things you don’t
see - to good, but
intangible outcomes,
whereas when you give in
Cairns, you see your charity in
action.
‘You onlyever
really feel good
about yourself if
you’re doing good
things for other
people’
Compassion fatigue is a
documented
phenomenon.
Insight into how people give and
why is increasingly of value to
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There comes a crescendo
when we refocus our efforts in
a collaborative manner. ‘Little
people can do little things, and
small gestures become huge if
there’s enough us doing them’,
says Maureen. She understands
that raising awareness creates
catalysts. It’s why she talks
about the concept of community
informed by her musical
background - she has always
been part of a team, part of a
machine, part of a community
that produces things of beauty
and value.
Considering her affinity with the
Great Barrier Reef and its link
to the Far North’s community
identity, I’m interested in
Maureen’s thoughts on its
health. When she tells me,
‘I’m appalled’, I wonder how
the concepts of charity and
community as we’ve discussed
them, could be tools to effect
change.
In October this year the Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park
Authority began a second phase
of in-water surveying to assess
the impact of the worst mass
bleaching event on record,
triggered by record-breaking sea
surface temperatures caused by
climate change and amplified by
a strong El Niño.
‘I believe in science and I believe
we have a problem. I read in the
papers that people are saying
it’s been exaggerated ... but
there’s no smoke without fire.
There has to a point where we
look at what we’re doing, from
the smallest level through to
government’. Maureen says it’s
no longer enough to give us an
option of action or non-action.
She believes that we need
guidelines: ‘Please, legislate
that we actually have to look
after this place better’, which,
sounds to me like an imploration
for
government
to
wield
that conductor’s baton more
effectively.