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Meals On Wheels

Meals on Wheels photo

Delivery of Meals on Wheels early 1970s; City of Sydney Archives: SRC 15140

The City of Sydney’s History Program conducted an oral history project about Meals on Wheels in 2007 to commemorate fifty years of the service within the Council’s boundaries.

In 1957 the City of Sydney was the first council to implement Meals on Wheels in New South Wales and the service has been operating continuously ever since. Meals on Wheels is supported by Council staff, but volunteers are the mainstay of the service.

Members of the community donate their time as either drivers who bring their own cars to transport the meals, or as runners, who go with the drivers and then carry the meals into the client’s dwelling. The diversity of the City of Sydney’s many communities is reflected in the equally diverse nature of Meals on Wheels volunteers, and their clients.

An illustrated booklet called Sydney Stories: Meals on Wheels, which is based on the oral history project, appears below as a downloadable PDF file.

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Thelma Crawley

Thelma CrawleyThelma Crawley volunteered for Meals on Wheels in the City of Sydney for nearly fifty years. Here she remembers a famous Sydney identity, Rosaleen Norton, who was known as the ‘Witch of Kings Cross’, and was a Meals on Wheels client.



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Ely Koo

Ely KooEly Koo emigrated from China to Australia in the late 1990s. He began volunteering with Meals on Wheels in 2000 because, he says, Australia has been good to him and he wanted to give something back. He is learning English and says his work as a runner for Meals on Wheels is also beneficial for developing his languages skills.

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Graham Kerr

Graham KerrGraham Kerr is a retired teacher. He talks about his reasons for volunteering with the Meals on Wheels service.


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Linda Stangherlin

Linda StangherlinLinda Stangherlin, state manager of financial services company the Russell Investment Group, is one of a growing number of corporate Meals on Wheels volunteers. She is part of a large roster of Russell employees who take responsibility for Meals on Wheels deliveries once a week.

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Gwen Cordner

Gwen CordnerGwen Cordner is a member of the ‘Old Grammarians’, a group of women who live in Sydney, but who attended the same girls’ school in Melbourne. She recalls the Christmas parties that Meals on Wheels volunteers once provided, additional to the delivery of meals to clients’ homes.

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Pauline O’Halloran

Pauline O’HalloranAnother long-term volunteer, Pauline O’Halloran, recalls some of the extra services that Meals on Wheels has sometimes provided.

 

 

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Craig Morris

Craig MorrisCraig Morris, Marketing and Communications Director for the Russell Investment Group discusses the necessity for services such as Meals on Wheels now, and into the future.

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Mark Spruhan

Mark SpruhanMark Spruhan is Manager of Aged, Disability and Food Services for the City of Sydney. Here he describes the range of people who volunteer for Meals on Wheels.

 

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Computer access to the online oral history collection is provided at all branches in the City of Sydney’s library network.

CDs and printed copies of interview transcripts are available at the Waterloo Branch Library: Waterloo Town Hall, 770 Elizabeth St, Waterloo NSW 2017; Telephone: 02 9288 5688 

Please be aware that for reasons of privacy and/or coherence audio excerpts may not be precisely identical to the way that they appeared the original recording. For the same reasons full audio files and transcripts may also have been slightly edited where necessary.

To view PDF files you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. Get Acrobat Reader Now. PDF Accessibility.

 

Last Updated: Tuesday 15 April, 2008

Please Note:
While care is taken to ensure accuracy, the City of Sydney cannot guarantee that information expressed here is correct and recommends that users exercise their own skill and care with respect to its use. The City of Sydney makes no warranty or undertaking, whether expressed or implied, nor does it assume any legal liability, whether direct or indirect.