Colin Neville

I have spent the past 15 years working with the Indigenous people of Australia in trying to do my little bit to assist them to be be independent and capable of self determination.

Alas the powers that be are not always forthcoming in this quest and I have now retired from full time work. However, I am still doing what I can behind the scenes and hopefully one day the 'closing the gap' between non-Indigenous and the Indigenous people in major aspects such as life expectancy, education and economic status will be achieved.

The next big thing is to be involved in the quest to have the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who are the traditional owners of this land recognised in the Australian Constitution.

Just recently, November 2016, along with my volunteer colleagues in The Sunshine Coast Reconciliation Group, we held a forum on the "Shared History" of Indigenous people in South Queensland and the European Settlers to this land. Not all very nice and very confronting in the exposure of the atrocities committed against Indigenous people during early settlement. Academics/Historians disclosed the story and two Aboriginal elders from different clans joined in the discussion and interacted with the audience. A very important learning experience for all. There will be more forums of this nature at different locations during 2016.

Apart from this all important dedication in remote Australian places, I love to travel in Europe and to explore the less visited parts of that fascinating part of the world.