Martlew, Ms K.

The Hon. G.G. BROCK (Frome) (16:04): Today, I would like to speak about a young lady in Port Pirie. Her name is Kellie Martlew. Kellie was born in 1979. She was diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy and epilepsy at the age of 18 months old when her family thought something was not right. She was not sitting properly or doing things an 18 month old should do. The family at that time was living in Adelaide. For the next five years of her life, she was sent to Regency Park for development and learning. This was a positive experience for the whole family. Kellie could not talk, so they taught her sign language to communicate. She also could not walk properly, but with intense physiotherapy every day, five days a week, she learnt to walk. She had intensive speech therapy as well.

After her parents' marriage broke up, they moved back to Port Pirie, where Kellie started school at Port Pirie West Primary School and then St Mark's College, which at the time had some programs for intellectually challenged students. Kellie transferred in about year 7 and stayed there until year 11. Her brother Paul was a major influence on Kellie, and she matured and grew as a person and student.

Kellie went through four major operations on her throat and saliva glands but, with support from family and the community, this very brave young girl was able to come through these challenges. Her mother, Nancy, said that this was a very hard time, with lots of tears, and that lots of love and patience were needed. However, Nancy and her family had great support and strength from family and friends. When Kelly left school, she worked for Orana for five years and for the last 16 years she has worked at the local Woolworths store, where she is known and loved by everyone. She will always say hi or wave, and she is a joy to see.

Twenty-two years ago, Kellie's life changed for the better when Maxine Bowden started up the Special Olympics team in Port Pirie. Kellie was always interested in basketball, playing with her brother, but she was not allowed to play in the Port Pirie Basketball Association. She has always enjoyed her sports and was a swimming champion in 1996, 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2006. Basketball has played a huge part of Kellie's life, but her first love is tenpin bowling. For the last 10 years, every weekend Kellie has travelled to Adelaide to attend training at Ivor Burge basketball for athletes with intellectual disabilities. Kellie has had huge success in the sport since 2006 and has travelled to Perth, Ballarat, Albury, Townsville, Gawler, Maitland, Canberra, Launceston, Dandenong, Ipswich, Bendigo and Gosford.

However, tenpin bowling is why she is attending the Special Olympics world games in Abu Dhabi in 2019. Kellie has worked extremely hard to get to this position. She has attended four regional competitions over the state to become eligible for the state team and attended state games from 2001 to 2018 in Sydney, the Gold Coast, Adelaide, Melbourne and the Special Olympics in Adelaide this year. She also participated in the Masters games in Port Pirie.

It was very amusing that during these games in Port Pirie the games organiser had a celebrity tenpin bowling competition. As I was mayor of Port Pirie at that time, I was involved in this competition.Having recently achieved a championship in the games held in Shanghai in 2007, Kellie decided to personally coach me in the art of tenpin bowling. With her tuition, Kellie was sure that I would be successful in being crowned the champion. Needless to say, after my not getting anywhere, Kellie stated that she would never coach me again as, in her words, I did not adhere to her teaching instructions.

Kellie has achieved numerous awards, including the Stan Wickham Award, Sportswoman Achiever of the Year 2007 and Special Olympics Female Athlete of the Year in 2007. She was awarded the key to the City of Port Pirie at a mayoral reception in 2007 and Australia Day Citizen of the Year in 2008 for Port Pirie. She attended the Special Olympics games in Shanghai in 2007, representing Australia. Kellie has achieved all these things through great personal adversity, despite being born with a disability.

With the love and support of her family and the community of Port Pirie, she has achieved so much. Kellie is a very warm individual with a sassy nature that everyone in our community loves. She is a valued member of our community. It is because of these attributes that a group of about 10 people has formed a fundraising committee to assist her to participate in Abu Dhabi in 2019, with many fundraising ideas, from cake stalls to a major cash raffle. However, the last word has to go to Kellie. She said: 'Friends, family and sports are my life. I love watching basketball, and I hope to achieve a score of over 200. I will do my best in Abu Dhabi to represent my family and the community.' All I can say is: good luck to Kellie on her ventures.