What is the Question – August

For August’s What is the Question Roland sat down to talk with head of the Ballarat Foundation, Andrew Eales.

 

What is your name?

Andrew Eales.

 

What is your occupation?

CEO of the Ballarat Foundation.

 

What brought you to Ballarat?

I first moved to Ballarat in 2000 to take a position as a journalist and sub-editor at The Courier newspaper. I moved away for work and returned to Ballarat in 2011.

 

What is your favourite spot in the city?

I really enjoy having meeting people at Cobbs Coffee in Lydiard Street, it has wonderful drinks and is a great place to watch people go about their lives.

 

What is the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?

Not really courageous on my behalf but when I was editor of The Courier newspaper in a time when victims of historic sexual abuse in Ballarat had really found their voice. Many times I was warned not to give the issue prominence and I was very proud that leaders and storytellers at the paper chose to support those very courageous people who had been abused and push for greater accountability for perpetrators.

 

What building would you choose to be?

Abbey Road Studios – imagine soaking in all that incredible music!

 

What is the greatest love of your life – apart from friends and family?

Definitely the Carlton Football Club. I’ve supported the club my whole life and they’ve certainly tested my patience in the past few years. 2022 looks very promising and it’s been fantastic to be back at live games this year.

 

If you could ask your pet one question, what would it be?

Are you really as happy as you look?

 

What or who inspires you?

The way people have kept giving to help those in need during the pandemic has been incredible. After fires, floods and the social and economic upheaval of COVID, our community has continued to give to those in need has been inspiring.

 

What music and television do you like?

Modern music… meh. I’m a child of the grunge era and I still prefer late 80s, early 90s alternative/Britpop bands. I do enjoy creating different Spotify playlists to suit the occasion or mood, and discovering new tunes is so much easier than having to save $30 every time you wanted to buy the CD!

I rarely watch TV these days, but when I do it is usually sports related.

 

What person – living or dead would invite to dinner party?

A dinner party deserves lots of invites! Barack Obama, Dave Grohl, Ash Barty could all add something special.

 

What qualities do you admire in other people?

I think generally we’ve been able to reinforce through the last years that the majority of people are firstly, good, and secondly, resilient. I admire people who continue to commit to work, family, life in general despite the obstacles that stand in our way.

 

What was your first job?

Sweeping floors and cleaning bins at the local newspaper office in Hamilton. It was also the newspaper where eventually I obtained my first job as a journalist – an example of working from the bottom up!

 

What historical calamity would you choose to reverse?

I’ve visited Germany on two occasions and both times the presence of the holocaust has had a profound impact on my view of the world, and a greater appreciation for the people of modern Germany. The holocaust was abhorrent, and I hope the lessons we’ve learned as a world means it will never be repeated.

 

What do you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?

That you get more satisfaction from helping others than from helping yourself. I wish I could have applied that earlier in my work life.

 

What is the best parenting advice you could give?

Put down that device.

 

What is your all-time favourite book?

I studied literature in school and was definitely a book nerd. Holden Caulfield provided a window into something more challenging that the staples – that’s why The Catcher in the Rye was my favourite.

 

What is something about you which is still the same as when you were a child?

I can still run as fast as I was when I was a child, my children just don’t believe me.

 

What would you do if you could live anywhere in the world and not have to work for money?

I would write a novel which would never be published, maybe in a beachside chateau in France or Italy during the winters and watch the cycling tours during the summers.

 

What would your childhood-self think of you today?

I never thought too much ahead when I was young – and still don’t. I think a younger me would be content with how life has progressed so far.