2020 Shine Awards Courage winner and finalists
Eulo’s Carmel Beresford was consumed by grief after losing her son in an on-farm accident. She found new purpose by writing his life story, and has been named the 2020 Shine Awards Courage winner for her bravery. Read her story, and meet the 2020 Courage finalists, Joy Heenan and Courtney Baker.
2020 Shine Awards Courage winner:
Carmel Beresford, grazier and author, Eulo, Queensland
IN THE NAME OF THE SON
SHE describes it as a life split in two.
Life before the accident, when Carmel Beresford’s youngest son, Sam, was full of energy and joy, always helping on the family’s outback cattle station, Farnham Plains, at Eulo in southwest Queensland.
Then life after, when there was a hole where Sam used to be. And grief.
Sam died in a shock gyrocopter accident on the family’s farm nine years ago, when he was 21.
“It was just a typical morning for me, I went to work at school,” says Carmel, who had also been Sam’s teacher and principal at Eulo State School.
Sam was refitting equipment on a newly purchased gyrocopter that he planned to use for mustering cattle.
His father, Mick, had just left him to finish the job, and was walking from the hangar to the house when he heard an almighty revving of the motor.
He rushed back to Sam, to find him with life-threatening injuries.
“It’s my understanding that it immediately went to high revs – 5800 revs – and he was dragged for a little bit, then the back tail rotor caused damage to his body,” Carmel says.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service flew Sam to hospital in Brisbane, where he received all the emergency care available.
But it was not enough.
Sam died eight days later.
Consumed by sorrow, Carmel poured her anguish on to paper, writing the story of Sam’s life; the adventure and the challenges of rearing stock in the Outback. She published the book, Unforgiving: The Story of the Life and Death of Sam, last year, hoping sales would bring in an income to help the family through drought.
The story has touched the hearts of readers, and achieved much more than Carmel imagined.
It has raised awareness of the hardships that farm families go through to get food on
Australian tables and given people who are dealing with grief reassurance that they don’t need to suffer alone.
It has even raised funds for drought and bushfire relief.
She wants people to know that since Sam’s death, “this southwest region of Queensland has experienced the deaths of other fine, hardworking young men, doing what they loved best – living and working in the bush”.
For bravely sharing her son’s story, inspiring others to appreciate the risks and rewards of working in rural industries and offering solace to other families dealing with grief, Carmel is this year’s Shine Awards Courage winner.
FINALIST:
Joy Heenan, spinal injury survivor, Warragul, Victoria
BRAVE SURVIVOR RIDES AGAIN
IF ANYONE knows what it means to get back on the horse, it’s Joy Heenan.
The words don’t convey the courage it took for the mum-of-three to return to the saddle, however, given what the tragic fall from her horse cost her.
The Warragul woman’s life changed forever on Christmas Eve a decade ago, when she fell off her horse and broke her spine, becoming paraplegic – paralysed from her shoulder blades down.
But Joy was determined to return to riding, and was back in the saddle within seven months of her injury, saying it has been “very much an integral part of my healing”.
“I did give it up there for a little while, but realised that I love it, and if there is something you love so much, even if people don’t want you to do it and don’t understand why, you do it,” she says.
“You’ve really got to do what makes your heart feel fulfilled.”
She struggled to find other women with spinal injuries to talk to, to help her process the impact her injury had on her life.
That’s why she now volunteers with spinal injury network Spire’s peer support team, to help people who have found themselves in a similar situation.
She now blogs about her experiences on her Facebook page, My Resilient Ride, and has also started a counselling diploma, aiming to return to work and help people with mental health challenges.
She also hopes to soon make her competitive riding debut with her Warmblood, Sandman.
And to people who say she is inspirational, Joy says she does what she does out of necessity.
“I am not trying to do anything to be inspirational,” she says.
“I am just trying to live my best life, and show people that, yes, you can do it, but it doesn’t mean it’s not tough.”
FINALIST:
Courtney Baker, disability awareness campaigner, Warragul, Victoria
IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO BE HEARD
IT TOOK bravery for Courtney Baker to find her voice.
Now that she has, the 40-year-old jewellery maker from Warragul is speaking up on behalf of millions of Australians who live with hearing loss, just as she does.
Courtney is founder of a small earring brand, Flluske, that spreads the simple message “love your ears”.
The words have resonated with people around the world who live with deafness and have experienced challenges similar to Courtney. After three years of trading, she has sold 9456 pairs of earrings, with a goal to hit 10,000 by the end of the year.
Courtney has had a severe hearing impairment since birth. The disability led to her being bullied at school, marginalised in workplaces and feeling ashamed of her ears for most of her life.
“It has always been something that I struggled to accept about myself,” says the entrepreneur.
As a child, craft was her escape. In adulthood, Courtney hit a low point five years ago when navigating difficulties in her workplace. She quit her job, and returned to art, making earrings to feel better about her ears. Eventually she spun the pastime into a business.
“People with hearing loss started to buy my earrings because it made them feel empowered as well,” she says.
When COVID-19 took hold, and face masks became mandatory in Victoria, Courtney again felt a rush of panic about what covering mouths would mean for lip-readers. But after discovering it was lawful to remove face masks for people who have hearing impairments, she launched an awareness campaign in her local community. Shops throughout Gippsland now display her posters and back Courtney’s mission, returning the freedom to speak and hear to a significant number of people with hearing loss.
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