Turnbulls Back Aunty Ali's Block Plan

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday March 15, 2001

Catherine Keenan

While the smoked salmon sandwiches were being prepared in Paddington, three empty cabs drove past Aboriginal elder Ms Ali Golding at Redfern yesterday and didn't stop to pick her up.

``Cabs don't pick up Aboriginal women, especially when they're standing in Redfern," said Ms Golding, better known as Aunty Ali.

But Aunty Ali eventually made it to the Bellevue Hotel in Paddington, where guests and media representatives nibbled on the salmon sandwiches as she accepted the first donation from the newly established Turnbull Foundation.

Founded and largely funded by the merchant banker and leading republican Mr Malcolm Turnbull and his wife, Lucy, Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney, the trust gave $93,000 to Aunty Ali's brainchild, the Redfern Community Foundation.

It will buy two vans for outreach work, such as taking mothers to medical appointments and the shops.

For 20 years, Aunty Ali has lived on The Block, in Redfern, home to one of the most deprived Aboriginal communities in Australia. Since she established the Redfern Community Foundation last year, it has bought a bus to take children to local primary and high schools, which substantially improved attendance rates. It has also garnered corporate sponsorship for a computer centre to train young people in IT, and efforts to improve participation in sport are succeeding.

Mr Turnbull said his trust had chosen the Redfern project because it was conceived and run by the local community.

The foundation would probably give its next grant to a community-based substance abuse project.

However, Mr Turnbull said he and his wife would continue to be strong personal supporters of larger charitable causes, such as the Prince of Wales Hospital.

The foundation accepts public donations and includes on its board the former premier Mr Neville Wran and Mrs Turnbull's uncle, art critic Robert Hughes.

Aunty Ali next hopes to re-establish Aunty Polly Smith's Centre, a community-run medical centre for Aboriginal women and children, which closed due to a lack of funding and the death of Aunty Polly.

She wants to bring back the Redfern she remembers from when she moved in with her seven children more than 20 years ago. There wasn't a mark of graffiti on the walls.

``The residents are still the same on The Block. While everything else crumbled, they didn't crumble. I believe that the community will rise up again very strong."