Each year, on October 15 the World celebrates International White Cane Day. And, to mark the occasion Vision Australia’s Sydney team organised a trip to Cockatoo Island. The story below is first-hand account, written by volunteer communications assistant Katie Brookes.
The night before International White Cane Day there was a big storm in Sydney. But, despite this a good number of clients, volunteers and staff braved the elements to attend.
We met at Circular Quay to catch the ferry over to the island. There was quite a bit of excitement in the group as we waited to board. The Sydney Ferries staff were very good about helping everyone negotiate the gangway but I did wonder what they made of such a large group with all their canes.
Cockatoo Island was a very interesting place to go. It has a whole lot of history as a naval dockyard and it has only been open to the public for a few years. It now houses a variety of changing art exhibitions even tents to camp overnight. One man who attended the day as a guide for his wife told an interesting story about being one of the few people who had driven on the Island. He was a forklift driver whose job it had been to clear away the large amount of rubbish to allow access for the public.
A volunteer from Caringbah named Kay did an excellent job acting as our tour guide. She had made the trip a week earlier and done a lot of research on the internet in preparation. She told us how the sandstone had been quarried back in convict times, pointing out the pick marks that could still be felt on the walls of the older buildings.
We learned a lot of this information while taking shelter from the wind in a cottage containing a photographic exhibition of the work done on the island. We moved from room to room where Kay gave a short explanation of what it contained and those who could see described the images to others. There were also many interesting facts about the ships built there, particularly all the activity during the World Wars.
Lunch provided a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and meet new ones over a sausage sizzle. We huddled around the picnic area trying to keep warm as we ate.
It turned out one client was also celebrating her birthday and she very kindly shared some delicious Turkish delight with everyone. The day finished with another ferry ride back to the Quay and a great day had by all!
