Vol 45 No 1 - Australian Fabian Society

PAGE 12BOOK REVIEW‘A Wonderful, Courageous, Dangerous butThrilling Way to Travel Through Life …’Australian Fabian NewsJanuary–March 2005Iola Mathews reviews fellow AFS member Rhonda Galbally's Just Passions:The Personal is Political (Pluto Press, 2004).A few years ago, Rhonda Galbally wassitting in a restaurant in Bourke Streetwith an old friend, Bill Russell, when ayoung woman passed by in a motorizedwheelchair. Rhonda waved at her, andbegan talking to Bill about the gains thathad been made in recent decades –disability rights, women’s rights,multiculturalism, tobacco free sports,health promotion and the Internet. Ineach of these areas, Rhonda had beeninvolved and active, and Bill urged herto write a book about these socialchanges and the organizations that hadsupported them. Just Passions is theresult and the sub-title The Personal isPolitical (a phrase from the 1970sWomen’s Movement) refers to the ideathat our political views and actions arebased in our personal history and whatshaped us. As Rhonda explains in theintroduction, the book is “the stories ofmy life... the social issues, the politics,the movements, the workplaces and thepeople I’ve engaged with over the years.”It also includes poems she has written atvarious stages of her career.Rhonda is a consummate mover andshaker and has had a lifetimecommitment to human right and socialjustice. Her career highlights are wellknown – teacher, policy analyst at theVictorian Council for Social Service(VCOSS), Executive Director of the MyerFoundation, Head of the Commissionfor the Future, CEO of VicHealth,Director of the Australia InternationalHealth Institute at Melbourne Universityand now joint founder of the company“Our Community.” Rhonda has been apowerful force for good, and while shemixes with (and challenges) those inpower, she still prefers to think of herselfas an “ageing hippy.”The driving force behind Rhonda’scareer is her belief in the empoweringnature of community groups. In each ofher jobs she has encouraged, establishedand funded a range of communitysupport groups, advocacy groups andresearch groups. She has fought tirelesslyagainst the “top down” charity andbureaucratic model in favour of thebottom-up model of communitydevelopment where the clients decidewhat they want, not some remotefunding body. She has managed to dothis while working within thephilanthropic and government sector.She worked closely with luminaries suchas Nugget Coombs, Professor “Pansy”Wright, Barry Jones and Philip Adams,many of whom became her friendsand mentors.Just Passions is not told in achronological way but is written arounda different theme for each chapter, e.g.disability, charity, women, families,futures and organizations. While thislack of chronology is at times slightlyconfusing, the book is nevertheless veryinformative and thought-provoking. Itis written in the way Rhonda speaks –down to earth, intelligent, talkative,passionate, fair, and with gentlehumour. She writes with honesty and isnot afraid to admit mistakes and showher vulnerabilities.Rhonda says Just Passions is not anautobiography, and although it focusesmostly on her public life, it also dipsintermittently into her private life. Shewas born in to a working class Jewishfamily in Melbourne and at thirteenmonths contracted polio. The medicaltreatment at the time was horrific – shewas hospitalized for nearly two years,mostly strapped into a splint which wassupposed to correct the wasted muscles –and thought her family had abandonedher. An operation at age eight and othercruel “treatments” for polio reinforcedthese fears. Her parents insisted on hergoing to a “normal” school instead of aninstitution (for which she is forevergrateful) but she found that as a“cripple” she was sometimes treateddifferently and excluded from activitiesin which other children took part. Shedeveloped a hatred for remoteauthorities which did not take theirclients’ needs into account, and a love ofcommunity groups which would caterfor disadvantaged and marginalizedwww.fabian.org.auRhonda Galbally is a joint founder of the'Our Community' company and also has heldpositions as – among other things – Head ofthe Commission for the Future, CEO of VicHealth, Executive Director of the MyerFoundation and Director of MelbourneUniversity Australia International HealthInstitute.people. Other parts of her private life –marriage, motherhood, parents andpartners – are skimmed over fairlylightly. The book is mainly about thesocial policy changes Rhonda has beeninvolved in, and as such is a valuablepiece of social history.If Rhonda Galbally is not already a“national treasure,” she should be. But Isuspect that her real rewards have comenot from accolades, but from thejourney along the way. As she writes inher book, Just Passions is simply that –the passions of mine – that revolvearound what I consider to be just – awonderful, courageous, dangerous butthrilling way to travel through life.” ◆