Pittwater Life October 2023 Issue

Beaches and two in Ryde.
He started his own cleaning
business and for two years he
cleaned the apartments on his
own, before he was offered
additional cleaning work by
a Manly real estate company.
His small business took off.
Sue and he ran it together from
their home and at one stage
employed 16 people full-time.
By the early 1990s he held a
diploma in remedial massage
and started a second business,
Peninsula Massage, which he
still operates today.
About 16 years ago Bob
Waterer invited Neil to a
committee meeting of the
Aboriginal Support Group –
Manly Warringah Pittwater.
That evening Neil was asked if
he would edit the association’s
newsletter. He agreed to have
a go and has been the editor
of the quarterly newsletter,
Elimatta, ever since.
Soon after, the person
heading the group also
handed over the running
of it to him. The Aboriginal
Support Group was founded
in 1979, initially focusing on
a proposal by the Aboriginal
Treaty Committee to develop
formal treaty negotiations
between the Commonwealth
Government and Indigenous
Australians. Within a couple of
years its focus had expanded
to looking at broader social,
economic and cultural issues.
The group gives support to
Indigenous Australians and
through its information nights,
held every two months, helps
the wider community to gain
an understanding of issues
Indigenous people are facing.
Neil was recently nominated
for the Northern Beaches
Senior Volunteer of the Year
award for his years of work.
The group’s meeting at the
Mona Vale Memorial Hall on 28
August attracted 200 people
to hear Tim Rowse, Emeritus
Professor in the Institute for
Culture and Society at Western
Sydney University, author,
journalist and filmmaker Dr
Jeff McMullen AM, and Liberal
MP for Berowra Julian Leeser,
talk about why they believe it
is imperative to vote Yes in the
upcoming referendum.
In April, Leeser resigned
from his role as Shadow
Attorney-General and Shadow
Minister for Indigenous
Australians, because having
worked for so long to improve
outcomes for First Nations
People, he could not support
the Liberals’ decision to oppose
an Indigenous voice in the
constitution.
Bringing together these
three men, who knew each
other’s work supporting
disadvantaged Indigenous
Australians, but had never
met, to speak to this full hall
of people was for Neil the
culmination of his many years
work in this area.
“How did I get here? I
thought. I’m the guy whose
parents were told that they
may as well get him out of
school because he wasn’t
going to do any good. So
what happened? I have found
something that really touches
my heart and I want to help
people learn more about it.”
The Aboriginal Support
Group also raises money
through its Supporters Annual
Donation fee and donations.
Neil says there are around
1700 Indigenous Australians
living on the Northern Beaches.
The group has supported
several local Aboriginal
families experiencing
financial hardship. Funds
have supported the school at
Toomelah on the Queensland/
NSW border, and to help the
Aboriginal Land Council set
up a men’s group in Western
NSW to address drugs, alcohol,
mental health and domestic
violence. During the drought
Continued on page 46
PHOTO: Rosamund Burton
Life Stories
CLOCKWISE FROM OPPOSITE: Neil at home at Newport; helping Dad mow the
lawn at Collaroy in 1944; with his mother, father and oldest sister; delivering
a Welcome to Country on the Beaches; the Evers siblings at the Brookvale
Show in 1954; co-hosting a function at Bilgola Plateau Public School with
Cathy Freeman; Neil’s Aboriginal heritage lies in the Guringai clan, who was
led by pivotal early 1800s figure Bungaree; getting to grips with the wildlife
on a Scout Jamberoo in Queensland in 1957; with Mum Dot.
The Local Voice Since 1991
OCTOBER 2023 45