Inspriting, not Retiring | Time Line | Centre Opening | Our Team | Membership
Inspiring, not Retiring 
A book about stories celebrating the contributions of older Australians
Cath Bonnes AM
Founder: Broken Hill & District Hearing Resource Centre Inc.
2000 Member of the Order
2003 Centenary Medal
My own childhood has made me very conscious of the fact that some people aren’t capable of fighting for themselves. And I know, full darn well, that at times people have to have someone else to go in to bat for them.
I was born in Burra SA in 1920. My farther was a Broken Hill boy and came back here when I was four. I lost my mother soon after and my father and maternal Grandmother raised me. Every time the two of them had a row, he’d take off to the bush to work as a horse trainer or a rabbit trapper or whatever suited him. I was reared as a boy, well, some parts of me.
I had very little schooling and I married the first person who was kind to me. I was twenty.
When I left my husband at 40 years of age I was semi-illiterate. The only papers I read were the kid’s comics books and that sort of thing.
When I lost my hearing, I was in my fifties, working as a shearers cook. I didn't have much family , a couple of Aunts. I was just told to go home and live with my deafness. I went through such terrible times: I nearly lost my home, I hit slid row. I never a drinker before but I drank for eight months solid. And I know why I did. Because if I bought people a drink
they’d put up with me for being deaf. That’s honest. Deafness is one of the most isolating things there is and I was buying company.
One day I was down in Adelaide seeing about some surgery on my leg and I saw a sign on the street that said: Better Hearing Australia. I called in and they said to me, ‘You can learn to speech read.’ So over the next year, that was what I did. There was a bus from Broken Hill to Adelaide and it was forty dollars, I’d be on it. It left at 11am at night and got into town about four in the morning. I’d sit in the Greyhound bus terminal and wait for the time when the doors would open at Better Hearing. That night I’d catch the bus back again. More often than not I wouldn't even have the money to but a meat pie. A few women would give me a meal.
Once I’d learnt to speech read, I thought to myself: I wonder how many others there are in Broken Hill like me? That led to our first Deafness Awareness Week which was twenty years ago this August. Three hundred people turned up and were on our way.
The Broken Hill Hearing Resource Centre is a voluntary support organisation. We try to fill the needs of the hearing impaired and the deaf. When we first started getting it established, I’d work in the Centre in the day and then I’d go and sit in the Mall and sell raffle tickets until it got dark. I've had so much assistance over the years. For example, the community built us two soundproof audio-testing booths. I just went to the South Rotary Club one night and I said to them, ‘Well I am here to sing for my super.’ And they said, ’And I suppose you wanted it yesterday?’ And I said, ’No, I wanted it three weeks ago!’ Now Australian Hearing visits our Centre and uses our booths every month.
There’s always a lot to be done. We supply batteries, repair hearing aids, demonstrate devices, train staff in correct fitting, teach signing, visit schools, advise people with Tinnitus, act as assistants and so on.
I’m always pushing for an increase in funding and better conditions for the deaf. I’ve served on State and Federal Advisory Committees, forums and reviews for years. I think I’ve gotten under the skin of quite a few people over the time, actually, but that has never stopped me.
I no longer care what people think of me. You’ve got to be able to say, ‘This is what I believe in.” These days I’m comfortable in my own skin. I can look myself in the mirror and am quite happy about what I see staring back at me.
The Hearing Centre’s Time Line
1985 - Public meeting held in Broken Hill
1986 - Small group formed a speech reading class under the heading of Better Hearing Australia, South Australian Branch – Foundation members: Cath Bonnes AM, Irene Holmes, Chris Coombe, Hillary Potter, Margery Osborne, Barbara Luscombe, Laurel Bradock, Florence Royal and Dorothy Vockins.
1990 - Hearing Centre setup in rented accommodation – Open, Monday, Wednesday, Friday 11am till 3pm.
- Raised $7,000 with help from the Broken Hill community for a child needing a cochlear implant
1993 – “Rally around the Hill” Seminar
1994 – With Broken Hill City Council and local Service Clubs support we were able to divide a small room into two Audio booths
1995 – Became an Incorporated Association, known as; Broken Hill & District Hearing Resource Centre Inc.
1999 – Received recurrent funding through Ageing, Disability and Home Care Department of Human Services NSW (ADHC) – Information/Advocacy and Referral – Centre opened Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10am till 4pm
2001 – “Hearing in Isolation” Conference – supported by the Commonwealth department of Health & Ageing
2006 - November- Building Fund Appeal Project – To purchase a property/building of our own
2007-2008 – Continue to apply for grants through Government programs and Philanthropy Organizations, fundraise for Building Fund and “Listening In” Project
2009 – “Listening In” Project – Screen (hearing) and review school age children, kindergarten to year 6 within the Child’s School – Funding received through FACES, the Deafness Foundation Vic and an In-Kind contribution of training through Australian Hearing
· Building Fund Project - March, Purchase of property in Argent St, July, relocate business from Gypsum St to 187 Argent St CBD – Centre opening five days a week, Monday to Friday 10am till 4pm
· “Sleepsafe” Project, In conjunction with the Fire and Rescue NSW – Supply and fit specialised smoke alarms to people who are deaf or hearing impaired
- This is an ongoing project
2010 – “Listening In” 2010, Screen (hearing) and review of kindergarten children and new enrolments within the child’s school – Funding provided through the Sisters of Charity Foundation
Friday the 1st of October - Official Opening and naming of the Centre – Catherine Bonnes House Officially opened and named by: Dr Andrew McDonald MP.
See 2007-2009 Building Fund Appeal Donors
· “Hearing in the Hill” Silver Jubilee Seminar More.....
· November, First edition of “Hearing Happenings in the Hill” newsletter
2011 - July, Booths outfitted out for testing of children under three years of age - August, First child under three years of age tested at the Centre using the VROA method
Centre opened, Cath honoured
The BH and District Hearing Resource Centre was officially opened yesterday. Mayor Wincen Cuy and the NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Dr Andrew McDonald, formally opened the centre with both volunteers and members of the community attending.
The centre is now in its 24th year, and has been located at several sites during that time. Members met in various homes and on the odd occasion in the YMCA building in the late 80s. City Council then
loaned the group the former Railwaytown Post Office. It was later located at the Burke Ward School hall before moving to the current premises at 187 - 189 Argent Street. Mayor Cuy addressed the crowd at noon, saying he was very grateful for the centre’s contribution to the community and said all had put in a “great effort”. “I also want to stand and acknowledge the amount of unpaid help ... that benefits the community and the district,” Mayor Cuy said. He said the work conducted at local schools
and the volunteers’ efforts to make the centre work was “truly fantastic”. “It’s absolutely well done.” He said it was ironic that the current location was once a radio station. Introducing Dr McDonald, the mayor said the centre had a strong supporter. He said Dr McDonald was somebody who actually understood the needs and the wants of the ordinary people through the eyes of a doctor. Dr McDonald said the hearing centre was “absolutely vital” to the city for two reasons. “One of the problems with hearing loss is that it’s very easy to become disengaged from general society because you can’t hear, and also you lose your confidence,” he said. “So the hearing centres are very good at helping people live with hearing loss on a day to day basis.” He said the centre’s help for people with hearing aids and the screening of every primary school child in the city was an extraordinary achievement. “Most parts of Sydney would kill for it,” he said. “The benefit to the community is just
extraordinary.” Hearing centre founder Catherine Bonnes OAM, who is still working well into her 90s, lost her hearing at the age of 50 and has helped fundraise every dollar to build the centre.
She was grateful to have a member of state parliament in the city to open the facility. “If you get the government interested enough to come out and see you, eventually they might realise you’re worth
something and give you some money,” Ms Bonnes said. She said the service was still going because it now had a centre for itself and because it was an essential service that locals still needed. Ms Bonnes said the volunteers had become a part of a family and “money couldn’t buy them”. The volunteers, most of whom have hearing difficulties themselves, were acknowledged with a glass trophy.
The building was named in honour of Ms Bonnes, being named Catherine Bonnes House.
Barrier Daily Truth – Saturday 2nd of October 2010
By Kurtis Eichler
Our Management Committee
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| Anne Woods Chief Executive Officer |
Neville Gasmier Chairperson |
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| Lia Staker Treasurer |
Chris Rawlins Secretary |
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Karen Gelmi |
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| Committee Members | |
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| Christopher Coombe | Olga Kennedy |
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| Barbara Luscombe | Josie Smith |
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| Leo Boulton | Val Huxtable |
| Staff Members | |
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| Emily Pearce Administration Assistant |
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Membership
Your membership and support is vital to ensuring the continuity of services provided through the Centre for which we receive no funding.
Please download and print the membership form (Adobe PDF) to become a member of the Hearing Centre . A receipt will be sent to you.
Thank you for your support.