Robust sails filled with clean, fresh air helped to demonstrate the benefits of not smoking to an enthusiastic group of local schoolchildren at the Deadly Puff Power event held at Tin Can Bay Yacht Club on 13 February.  With the aid of funding from the Queensland Government Event Support Program (ESP), the day of sailing and other activities was the culmination of a series of activities aimed at raising awareness and understanding of tobacco smoking issues for Indigenous Queenslanders, and to promote a positive attitude towards a smoke-free lifestyle.  The ESP ‘helps community groups to stage sporting and cultural events through the provision of small grants and resources that promote culturally effective anti-smoking messages’ using the key messages of  Smoking: It Can Cost Us The Game and Tobacco: It Could Cost Us Our Culture.

Local cultural identity Gordon Browning (pictured right) and the other members of the Indigenous Health Team in Gympie visited 13 primary and secondary schools in the region in the weeks leading up to Deadly Puff Power to talk about the effects of smoking including its impact on health and in particular it being a major factor in poor performance in sport.

“While the anti-smoking message is important for everyone, smoking actually causes the biggest health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.  Most of these kids live with parents that do smoke so we are trying to break the cycle,” Gordon says.  “It is good to get the kids out of that environment and into this one, mixing with other indigenous kids in the region and building an identity of their own.”

Gordon and his Queensland Health colleagues, including well-known Tin Can Bay community volunteer Ken Meldrum, used the idea of comparing sails to lungs by linking how they function and the need to keep them in top form to gain the best performance.  During art days held at the schools, students painted sails with anti-smoking messages and native animals showing clean, clear lungs.  The brightly-coloured sails were proudly on display during the Deadly Puff Power event (pictured left), and will also be displayed by the Gympie Regional Art Gallery in the lead up to NAIDOC Day celebrations.

While the message behind Deadly Puff Power was the impact of smoking on healthy lungs, the objective was pure fun, with children of all ages from the Gympie region having the chance to enjoy the sun, sea and sand of Tin Can Bay.

“The day was an opportunity for 75 Indigenous children, youth and parents to experience the thrill of sailing, be part of a dragon boat crew and participate in Indigenous games,” says Ken  Meldrum, Gympie Health Service Nurse Unit Manager, Primary Health Care & Chronic Disease Management.  “Most of these kids have never had the opportunity to go sailing or in dragon boats before but obviously enjoyed it and expressed the desire to continue doing it.  We will have to look at opportunities to promote the sport within schools in the Gympie region.  I want to see an Indigenous team win the America’s Cup!”

The day was also an opportunity for young Indigenous people to mingle, to play Indigenous games and to show off their dancing skills.  Gordon Browning says, “A lot of these kids come to these sorts of events regularly, giving them a chance to mix and be proud of their heritage.  We encourage them to bring along their non-Indigenous friends so children of all backgrounds can be exposed to the culture and make better friendships through the activities.”

Darren Barton of Gympie is a single father to two energetic young boys – DJ aged 10, and ‘Buddha’, 7, who are of Torres Strait Islander heritage.  He says, “My kids are the only two Indigenous kids at their school so I have got to keep their culture alive and keep the kids involved in these sorts of things.  The art day where they painted the sails was great as the whole class joined in and really enjoyed it.”

After a brilliant day spent on the water, the event closed with a farewell dance and a busload of happy but exhausted kids made their way back to Gympie.  Participant Mandji Browning said of the day, “It’ll definitely be something to remember, and we can tell other people about it  It was a good way of teaching us not to smoke.”

Organisers would like to thank the Tin Can Bay Yacht Club for the use of their premises, TCB Sailability and their dedicated volunteers for the use of their sailing boats, the Tin Cay Bay Dragon Boat Club for the use of their boats and their enthusiastic volunteers and the Gympie Cooloola Rotary Club for preparing the delicious healthy lunch.

Smiles all round - getting ready to go out

in the Dragon Boat