“Without the help care of AnglicareSA things would be 10 times harder and I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing without the care.”
Since 2016, AnglicareSA has worked alongside Robert McFarlane to help maintain his independence and happiness at home.
“I have a carer who comes every morning and showers me and makes my bed and my breakfast but the rest of the day I just get on with it and I look after myself,” Robert says.
“My physiotherapist comes every fortnight, she’s a wonderful slave driver and really makes me work,” he adds with a grin.
Robert, one of six children who grew up in Brighton, admits he wasn’t a great student at school and ended up leaving in Year 11 “really only being good at English and History”.
“I was an undistinguished Brighton High School student except for English and History. From memory, an essay I wrote on the Spirit of Adventure (when in detention) ended up in the school magazine.
“I was especially lucky though at high school in having two great English teachers – Bill Barrett and Colin Thiele (of Storm Boy fame). I was also part of a regular class taught photography by Kodak’s Colin West.
“I am self-taught as a photographer which means you make lots of mistakes and you don’t make them again.”
He did, however, go on to become one of Australia’s most distinguished and respected photographers and writers travelling the globe and capturing the image of the famous, the infamous and the every day in a career spanning six decades.
Among his prodigious collection of works is a well-known image of Indigenous rights campaigner Charles Perkins, taken in 1963 as Perkins was travelling to his family home late at night on a Sydney bus.
Robert’s photographs are held in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of NSW, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Library of Australia and numerous private collections.
His love and passion for photography and craft remain strong to this day, currently working on a book spanning his career.
“Because of three strokes I have had, I don’t move very fast, but the internet allows you to work at the speed of light. My favourite shots are about finding the counterpoints in everyday life and accepting what they are without altering them.
“I turned 80 this month, but I don’t need anyone to send me to bed, I’m a bit of a night owl watching films and documentaries. I’m a journalist. A snapper. A scribbler.”
Community Aged Care – Home Care Services
- In 2021-2022 AnglicareSA has supported 1870 people who live in their own home, of which 252 were from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and 19 were First Nations people.
- Community Aged Care covers all metropolitan regions and extends into the Barossa with 60 per cent of our customers living in the north/northeast and 40 per cent in the south/southwest.
- Despite the impacts of COVID on the community and the workforce, AnglicareSA has been able to commence services for 137 new Home Care Package customers.