Border angel Meredith Llewelyn recognised for kindness

A woman who supported hundreds of Queenslanders locked out of the state at the height of Covid lockdowns has been recognised for her kindness – but she’s still angry about the experience.

She was Queensland’s border angel, a fighter for the underdog against a government heavyweight but Meredith Llewelyn is still haunted by the faces of those she helped.

Men and women on the brink of defeat – young and old – barred from the tender hugs of loved ones, forced to sleep in cars and makeshift refugee camps for days, weeks and months.

Shell-shocked professionals, previously strangers to serious hardship whose lives had been turned upside down, unable to return home, unable to find a new one.

Families who had been cut off from final goodbyes from dying loved ones, employees who moved interstate for careers they’d never have, children separated from parents.

They were ordinary Australians she said were “treated like lepers”.

In the five long months of Queensland’s most recent border closure, Mrs Llewelyn and her husband David witnessed hundreds in the “depths of despair”.

Meredith Llewelyn says she is still angry over how people were locked out of Queensland during Covid lockdowns. Picture: Danielle Smith

Queensland locked down in June last year when the Delta variant sent shockwaves through Sydney and Melbourne. The Sunshine State would remain shut until it reached its 80 per cent vaccination target.

The Pottsville retirees moved to the Tweed region in 2019 blissfully unaware of the looming trauma that would envelop the world for years to come.

Spurred by “frightened, traumatised” Queenslanders who had nowhere to turn, Mrs Llewelyn – a self-described “impulsive” woman of action – returned to a full-time, unpaid job as a volunteer border angel.

At least 300 people, likely to be a gross underestimation from the humble Mrs Llewelyn, were swept up in her care and provided for by her and her husband.

People were fed, shelter was found, Covid-19 exemptions sought, the compassion and assistance that bureaucrats in George St offices refused to provide was granted.

“I’d go to bed crying most nights,” she said.

“My head would be spinning from phone call after phone call. Trying to juggle help for so many people.

“I’d fall into bed exhausted and be too tired to sleep.”

Wendy Riddoch and her dog Teddy were left stranded at the Murwillumbah Showgrounds. Picture: Danielle Smith

Less than 12 months on and the threat of Covid remains, and so too do the stories of heartache that have stayed with Mrs Llewelyn. They never stray too far from her thoughts.

From Wendy Riddoch who was housed in a leaky caravan with her support dog Teddy, to fully vaccinated Queensland pensioner John forced to live in a car under a tarp.

Or Sunshine Coast parents Liam Mander and Leanne Reid and son Levi, four, whose tent and Esky on the side of the highway became their residence for months.

Then there were the ones saved from becoming statistics.

“Five men told me how close they were to ending it all,” she said.

“They had tried everything. Locked away from their family. They had lost all hope.

“If we hadn’t known about them they wouldn’t have made it. But we helped them get home and they were reunited.”

While the Llewelyns dug into their own pockets willingly, they weren’t alone.

When media outlets learnt of their heroic plight – help came.

The surrounding community banded together and cash flowed in from far and wide.

The pair and their Murwillumbah Presbyterian Church congregation gathered vital funds and supplies for the desperate families and together delivered aid.

Cars forced to turn around at the Queensland border during a Covid lockdown. Picture: Glenn Hampson

While Covid-19’s second wave nearly sunk them, the donations kept them afloat.

“Hundreds of Australians who never knew us but believed us and trusted us. Repeat donors, anonymous donors. These amazing people kept putting in their money,” she said.

“There were big donations. And there were times when the bank account ran close to the edge, and then another thousand dollars would appear.”

Mrs Llewelyn is still angry about what the masses went through.

“What the government did was deplorable. It was despicable they couldn’t go home,” she said.

“My mind still goes between the horror of what these people went through and the kindness shown by those who backed us.”

In a testament to her spirit and unwavering compassion, Mrs Llewelyn has been named as one of 11 finalists in a Black Pepper nationwide search for Australia’s kindest person.

“It’s a weird feeling. Very humbling,” she said of the nomination.

She’s also documented her experiences in a book Locked Out.

Should she win the award, Mrs Llewelyn insisted it would be on behalf of the hundreds Australians who gave her the financial wings to spread the kindness.