Wollondilly school holiday activities organised to help youth in wake of Buxton tragedy

A small south-west Sydney town has been left without its “anchor” these school holidays, following a crash which killed five students. Now the town is rallying with a range of activities and supports to help heal grieving youth. Find out what’s happening.

A community that has suffered “more than their fair share of natural disasters and tragedies” is being urged to reach out for help if needed.

The Wollondilly community is still grieving after Lily Van de Putte, Gabriella McLennan, Summer Williams, Tyrese Bechard and Antonio Desisto died in a horrific car crash.

The five passengers - who were all school mates - died at the scene, while the driver Tyrell Edwards suffered minor cuts and bruising. Edwards remains in custody on remand.

Wollondilly Shire Council is working collaboratively with a range of government and community organisations to provide support to the local community and youth, following the tragic accident at Buxton on September 6.

Mayor Matt Gould said it has been an extremely difficult time for the Wollondilly community, and in particular the young people of the community.

He said it would take some time for everyone to come to terms with the loss of the five precious young lives.

“We are focusing on the youth because we had identified that during the school term the high school was acting as that nexus and that anchor as they are dealing with this,” he said.

Balloons line the streets of Tahmoor as the funeral for victim of Buxton crash Lily Maria Joy Van De Putte takes place in Tahmoor on September 16. Picture: BACKGRID via NCA NewsWire

“Then that obviously evaporated with the start of the school holidays so we wanted to try and make sure we still had something there.

“To help address the trauma experienced in recent weeks, we are offering a range of activities to appeal to various interest groups, such as music, sport and craft.”

Cr Gould said it was a “matter of months” not days when referring to coming to terms with the tragedy, adding council was doing everything it could to support the community.

He said it would be understandable if residents were feeling drained and upset.

We have had far more than our fair share of natural disasters and tragedies in the last few years. It’s that cumulative impact of how much as a community are we expected to bear,” Cr Gould said.

“We don’t want people reaching breaking point so please reach out.

A shrine at the crash site in Buxton in memory of the young who lost their lives recently in a single car crash south of Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Bullard

“I have been surprised by how wide this has affected the shire. You would be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t know the kids directly or know someone who lost them. Everyone seems to have that linkage.

“It does mean we are close as a community but it also means we are collectively mourning.”

Cr Gould thanked the Minister for Regional Youth Ben Franklin and the Office for Regional Youth for their financial contribution to the program.

To bring the events to the community, the council has joined forces with South West Sydney Local Health District, Department of Education, Primary Health Network, Community Links Wellbeing, Headspace, Red Cross, and a range of local businesses and community services.

A series of free school holiday programs has been developed for children and young people aged 5 to 24 years until October 8.

Specialist support services will be in attendance at each activity to provide information, referrals and resources to young people.

Parental supervision at activities will be required for all children under 12 years of age, and some events require a RSVP. For more information and details, click on the link with the full list of activities below.

Cr Gould encouraged anyone needing help to reach out after a new door-to-door mental health and wellbeing survey has found that over half of householders wanted to seek help for their mental health in the last 12 months, but 37 per cent did not get the care they needed.

The Assisting Communities through Direct Connection (ACDC) Project’s People Connectors spoke with and offered information to 469 householders in Wollondilly, 225 of whom then completed a survey of their experiences with mental health and accessing support.

The survey found that over one-third of householders reported having, or living with, a mental health issue. Additionally, half of the householders surveyed reported low wellbeing.

The top two reasons for householders not getting help were that they preferred to self-manage (52 per cent), or they experienced fear, embarrassment or shame (41 per cent).

Picture: NCA NewsWire / Monique Harmer

People Connectors from Community Links Wellbeing, who partnered with CMHA, went door-to-door throughout Wollondilly between March 2022 and July 2022.

Greg Duffy, the general manager of Community Links Wellbeing, said that the survey results suggested that despite enduring the recent traumatic events in Wollondilly, there was still reluctance in the community to seek help for their mental health.

“The high percentage of anxiety and depression amongst householders who took part in the survey was relative to what our local community has gone through in the past two years - multiple traumatic events, combined with natural disasters and pandemics,” he said.

“It was a surprise to see how many people still have that stigma around mental health and are ashamed to seek help.”

If reading this story has impacted you in anyway, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 on the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.