Service and a second home

WHEN not occupied by family and criminal law, sole legal practitioner and Justice of the Peace, Dianne Hadden dedicates her time to serving other people.

It’s something that was sparked within her at university.

“I was encouraged to do volunteer work… I used to visit the Winlaton Young Women’s Prison at Nunawading,” she said.

“They didn’t have many visitors in those days, so I used to do that. That’s where I started my community giving.”

It’s this volunteer drive that has earnt Ms Hadden the honour of being one of Zonta Ballarat’s Great Women for 2020, having been, amongst many things, a former State Member for Ballarat Province in 1999 to 2006.

At Lifeline Ballarat, she spent 13 “very rewarding but sad” years as a telephone crisis counsellor. With the Ballarat and Grampians Community Legal Service, Ms Hadden is on the board, and duty solicitor roster.

She gives toiletries and clothes to the “amazing” and “underutilised” One Humanity Shower Bus, and with her daughter, she’s a contributor to Share the Dignity, collecting goods and toiletries for vulnerable and homeless young women.

“Young people need to have a volunteer spirit,” she said. “My daughter’s always known me to volunteer, but it’s always for other people. Not to better me, but to try and make life easier for others.”

However, the service Ms Hadden’s most passionate about as a Ballarat Friend of Ainaro, lies somewhere just north of Australia.

She has volunteered in Timor-Leste for over 10 years, six of them at the Ryder-Cheshire Foundation’s home, Klibur Domin, which has beds for tuberculosis patients, cares for the elderly and disabled, provides respite and rehabilitation.

When she visits, Ms Hadden lives like a Timorese woman, staying with her “adopted” local family.

“It’s like returning home. There’s 13 in the house,” she laughed. “It gives me a lot of joy and happiness.

“Many I’ve known since they were one year old, so you see them grow and go to school, and it’s wonderful to see their milestones. I feel very happy that they trust me because they’ve had not a very nice history, Timor-Leste.

“They’re a new nation… Only 20 years old, now. Very poor. They need to trust you and accept you, you must be honest, accept their culture and work within their culture and traditions,” she said.

Having picked up the “difficult” tetun language, Ms Hadden loves speaking it.

“I spend a lot of time listening and observing. If you can’t speak the language and you make no attempt to learn it, they’re not really interested.

“It’s like anywhere, you need to communicate. It’s very challenging, but it’s good fun,” she said.

Looking forward to her next trip to Timor-Leste in March, Ms Hadden will work to prepare and deliver a Domestic Violence outreach program to villages.

It’s an initiative the government could not afford to present on their own, helping men and women understand police powers, the 2010 Law Against Domestic Violence, how to prevent domestic and sexual violence, and their reporting responsibilities as communities.

“The isolation means unless they’re advised, they don’t know what their obligations and rights are for access to justice, especially for women,” Ms Hadden said.

“They gain knowledge that they’ve never had. They’re so grateful.”