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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-22 Daily Xml
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KOKODA FOR CANCER

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (15:37): Today I wish to advise the house of an event I attended on Saturday night in my electorate. It was the Kokoda for Cancer art show which was organised by a group of local residents who are part of this Kokoda for Cancer trek. The art auction was held to raise funds, as I said, for the Kokoda for Cancer group. It was organised by local artists and art teacher Julia Mannix and her partner, Mike Stokes, who put a lot of effort into organising the night itself.

On the night, we also heard from Katherine Krollig. Katherine is an ambassador for the South Australian Cancer Council and also a cancer survivor, and she spoke with a great deal of passion and poignancy about her own experience with cancer. Another ambassador and organiser for the Kokoda trip, Brent Matthews, was also there on the night. He is organising the cancer group itself and I will talk a bit more about that later. The event itself raised about $10,000 which is a great achievement. Those members who go to fundraising events know that an amount like that in one night is a really good amount.

Many people supported the event and I would just like to acknowledge some of those people who did. First, I would like to acknowledge the team of people who put the event together, who were very well led by Julia Mannix and Mike Stokes, and the Gawler Arms Hotel who donated the venue at no charge. That is a very prominent venue in Gawler and very busy on a Saturday night, so they would have actually had to give up a night of business to do that. I commend the hotel for supporting the event.

I acknowledge the trekkers themselves—18 trekkers actually attended the night—and the various artists. There were 90 works of art donated to this event ranging from some very well-known state artists to some local artists. All but five works were sold on the night, so that is a massive achievement. I also acknowledge the people who actually purchased the art and artefacts (I purchased some) and everyone else who attended.

The fundraising activity on Saturday night is one of many such activities being undertaken by the Kokoda for Cancer group. The Kokoda for Cancer group is the brainchild of Brent Matthews, a local resident in my electorate, who is a cancer survivor and Cancer Council SA ambassador. The group was borne out of his determination to raise awareness of the fight against cancer, to aid research and improve treatments, as well as support provided by Cancer Council SA.

Brent has been able to bring together 18 South Australians from diverse walks of life, the majority of them local people, and all but two of them were previously known to each other and had been united by one passion—to raise funds to fight cancer. Unfortunately, all of them have, in some way, been impacted by cancer. That is probably true of all of us: we know somebody (a family member or friend) who has been affected by cancer.

The trekkers have set themselves a target of raising $10,000 each with the idea of raising over $200,000 for the Cancer Council. The group will fly out of Adelaide together after one last supper, as they call it, on Wednesday 13 April via Brisbane. Their trek of the Kokoda Trail will start on the 14th from Owers' Corner, finishing at Kokoda late on 24 April. They will be in Port Moresby for the dawn service on ANZAC Day.

On the morning of ANZAC Day, the trekking group will be transported to the Bomana War Cemetery to attend the ANZAC Day dawn service. This service will be a moving experience not only for those who have just experienced the trek itself but also for those who lost family members in that war. For many this venture is also to honour their ancestors who fought before them, as well as a personal challenge, which is representative of the battles one goes through with cancer. In no way does the group wish to diminish the experience of those who fought, but the event highlights the experiences of those who fought during the war and the experiences of people going through cancer today.

The group have trained together weekly, have undertaken other physical preparation and have become serial fundraisers in order to meet their targets. They have also raised funds through other activities such as bike rides, etc. As a cancer survivor himself, Brent has an immense appreciation of the fighting spirit demanded of the servicemen who trekked the Kokoda Trail. The Cancer Council of South Australia commends his efforts and fully supports this venture, which is dedicated to fighting cancer. I commend the group and the trekkers and wish them well.

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