In 1998, Scarborough Rotary founded Wheelchairs For Kids Australia (WFKA) and engaged Br Olly to start the first WFKA workshop in Wangara.
This year, over 30 years later, Bro. Olly was recognised as Senior Australian of the Year in January, and Western Australian of the Year in June, which means he’ll saddle up again on Australia Day 2026 to see if he is crowned Australian of the Year.
In the beginning Bro. Olly and Scarborough Rotary members rummaged around a local Council Garbage Tip, looking for items that could be recycled into a wheelchair for a kid somewhere like Cambodia or Vietnam. These kids had lost their one or both legs because of a landmine left behind from an almost forgotten war, that they walked on in a rice paddy.
WFKA began as a labour of love, putting together these life-changing wheelchairs to make a difference in the life and future of some kids a long way away. Come to think of it, it still is a labour of love. Over 250 volunteers, whose average age is in the mid 70’s, now turn up at the Malaga workshop every day to make 30 wheelchairs every day to WHO standard. The wheelchairs are shipped overseas to 81 countries in a partnership with a local in-country charity - WFKA makes them and the charity gets them from Fremantle to the grateful recipient.In June last year Bro. Olly and his volunteers made wheelchair number 60,000.
This achievement is a long way from the beginnings of WFKA, where dumped items in the Council tip were scavenged for parts to make a couple of wheelchairs. In those early days, the wheelchairs were only made if someone had donated $100/chair, so sometimes the volunteers would turn up only to be told there was nothing to do. It was socially-devastating news.
However, as Paul Kelly sang back in those times: From little things, big things grow*
Recently a group of Applecross Rotarians and friends made the perilous journey up Freeway North, across the Narrows, to far-away Malaga. Some were making their fourth visit, and some their first, as Greg reminded me most of the morning.
The current workshop is huge. The names of major donors, and the logos of the many supporters are featured on the wall. Scarborough Rotary was there from the beginning, and still is. The Rotary logo adorns the wheels of every wheelchair.
Our host was CEO Greg Hebble, an Associate Member of Applecross Rotary.
Greg showing a memorial plaque that can be added for people whose love & generosity has made the wheelchair possible
We saw a container load of 350 wheelchairs destined for kids in Gaza, but given the issues regarding delivery of aid to Gaza, they’re being shipped via Jordan. Many of the injured kids from Gaza end up in a hospital in Jordan so that makes sense, in a region where sense is in very short supply..
Greg also took us to the room where pre-loved soft toys, wheelchair covers and knitted or crocheted lap rugs, made by Beppie's 300 volunteers. They are stored under Beppie’s watchful eye, until they are shipped with each wheelchair.Greg told us that the WA Government provides some recurring funds for WFKA, but there is no financial support from the Federal Government, yet! Bro. Olly’s award as Senior Australian of the Year gave him several opportunities of raising the issue with the PM, and there will be several more opportunities when he returns to Canberra for the announcement of the 2026 Australian of the Year.
Greg has flagged some serious conversations with Foreign Minister Penny Wong as WFKA’s efforts are all focussed overseas and highlight the generosity of Australians when it comes to providing love and support for kids facing a difficult future.
Greg also mentioned that WFKA received very little public financial support from elsewhere in Australia. That changed almost overnight with donations flowing in from the rest of Australia after Bro. Olly was named the 2025 Senior Australian of the Year last January.
We had a thoroughly enjoyable and educational morning.
Our Vocational Visit ended at The Kingsley Tavern where 16 of us enjoyed some Rotary Fellowship over lunch, with Olly, Beppie and Greg as our guests.
* Song composed by Kev Carmody (1993)