Bush retreat brings together veterans and emergency service personnel with post-traumatic stress

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A retreat in Central Queensland is helping veterans heal. The wilderness sanctuary welcomes former defence force and emergency service personnel with post-traumatic stress disorders.

Transcript

00:00Lining up for lunch to take a break at the weekly working bee.

00:06It's a place where you can come and have a yarn and more or less forget about it sort of thing.

00:11Yeah, we don't talk about Vietnam or anything, you know what I mean.

00:16We just love being here.

00:18Nestled in the foothills of Mount Gaiae at Kawaral,

00:2230 kilometres from Rockhampton in central Queensland,

00:26Coxcomb Veterans Bush Retreat was founded in 1997 by the late Bruce Ackett.

00:32It's a place where camaraderie, yeah, and you come in.

00:37Most of the time you don't talk about your experiences.

00:40Sometimes you do if your, you know, blokes having a bit of a downer.

00:43While they have dongers and cabins for travellers,

00:46it's also a space for local war veterans.

00:49Emergency services personnel are also welcome.

00:52Gary Semple used to bring his dad, who was ex-Army.

00:55In my case it was a full 40 years or almost, and it sneaks up on you.

01:02But I do believe, you know, one or two incidents were probably enough to cause someone to suffer.

01:11Every Tuesday the members come together for a bite to eat,

01:15to socialise and do odd jobs around the property.

01:18Someone's got a problem or they want to know something about DVA

01:22and someone might know something, how they can do it.

01:24It's not about swapping war stories, but just being mates.

01:28In recent years the dedicated volunteers have been able to expand operations

01:32thanks to government grants, including a museum filled with military memorabilia.

01:36The young veterans are going to have the same problem.

01:39As they get older they're going to find that things will start coming back to them

01:43that they've seen and they'll need somewhere.

01:46Building supports for current and future generations.

01:49And that's it.

01:53.

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