Volunteers

Volunteering may mean different things to different people.To me and many others.It means helping a cause which I believe in, and the help I give is not for reward. If someone or something has a need, and you give to fill that need, that is helping. If you give something which you need yourself, but be prepared to go without, then that is charity.

Time is the one which we can give, which we never have enough for our own needs. Getting older means tasks take longer, and available time is in short supply. Who knows when time runs out altogether.

To give to help others is sometimes fraught with traps for the unwary. People will seek help, but others sometimes don’t really need it. Some prey on a person’s kindness; Others just need a helping hand, a little guidance.

I volunteer for the environment, and the animals which need that environment to exist. The tree, bush, or grass you plant, may never give you shade or food, but it will give food and shelter to some creature. The animals never say thankyou, but they will be free to live their lives and have food and a home.

After 50 years of volunteering, I spend most time now at Mt. Rothwell. WHY?

We are living in the oldest environment on earth, evolved over time in the oldest continent on earth. With lack of understanding, we have tried to change the environment to suit our needs.

The small area of Australia presents an opportunity to return the flora and fauna to it’s original state. Not as it has always been, because it has been constantly changing. Rather restoring it to the way before white man arrived, and drove the indigenous people away. They had evolved with it for thousands of years, they blended in with the nature of it, they didn’t destroy the land as we have. Australia is the land I love dearly. My forebears did their best to exit here, but lacked the knowledge to work this strange land of flood and drought. Plains built from millions of years of forces of nature. Rivers filled with the dust of mountains wasted away. Unable to carry water away, they spilled over and created huge plains where wetland life flourished.

At Mt. Rothwell, the land is being brought back to life. The original plants are taking over. The original animals are back again. I have helped restoration. My soul is rewarded. When I see a wonderful placid Aussie animal wandering about enjoying it’s place on the planet, that is the most warming experience I could be given.

When I meet and work with like-minded people, my fellow volunteers, my heart is on a high. We are not giving, we are receiving. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Paddy Maguire