Fun and friendship at family camp

THE families of servicepeople have spent four days in Ballarat making connections and having fun as part of Legacy’s young families program.

The camp, which occurred last week, saw families visit Sovereign Hill, Kryal Castle, the Ballarat Wildlife Park and Lake Wendouree.

It aims to provide attendees with an opportunity to make connections with people in similar situations and to relax.

Dana Callaghan has been attending the camp with her children for three years and her husband is an ex-serviceman.

She said the camp is the perfect way to make friends with people who understand their experiences.

“We don’t have to talk about it, but we understand each other,” she said. “We can have a break from our lives at home, that’s my big thing.”

This year the camp has about 50 attendees and Legacy Ballarat secretary Peta Gillespie said the issues these families face are unique.

“There’s something unique about Legacy families and families who are in the situation where they’ve had a parent as a veteran,” she said.

“[The parent] may have possibly suffered because of their service mentally of physically and have died, and so that’s a very specific single parent often or a very specific two-parent situation because often there are issues there that become intergenerational.

“They can meet other families in the same position who understand what they are going through, and the kids often don’t understand why they relate, but they are all in the same boat.”

The camp is supported by Legacy and their main fundraiser is the Legacy Week Appeal which has been running since the 1940s.