Last step

By Judy Wolff
KEN Middleton has walked many a mile in his 86 years.
And on 5 March, he will take the final steps in the 40-year tradition of Oxfam Australia’s Walk Against Want in Sherbrooke Forest.
Ken, formerly of Sherbrooke, has the distinction of having participated in the first walk in 1966.
Mr Middleton said a huge crowd of people walked from Melbourne to Frankston overnight for the first walk.
“I arrived at about 4am, very tired. It remains one of the longest continuous walks I’ve done,” he said.
Another long-standing participant is Dr Jayant Bapat who will also be joined by 15 members of his extended family.
Dr Bapat said as a Hindu priest he received honorariums and preferred to donate them to various charities.
“This is my chance to do something for mankind – with my wife, friends, children and grandchildren. We all enjoy collecting money and doing the walk,” he said.
Oxfam’s was the first Australian fundraising walk which has since been followed by many others, making fundraising very competitive.
The walk supports Oxfam’s work around the world and in Aboriginal Australia as community projects, emergency aid and advocacy for social and economic justice.
After his move to the Hills 29 years ago, Ken has been closely involved with Oxfam Australia, formerly Community Aid Abroad.
As a recently retired accounting lecturer at Melbourne University, he helped steer the organisation for three years as national treasurer.
He has been active in developing the Dandenong Ranges group, now part of the Hills’ social justice scene.
“I have a strong sense of justice. The flaunting of basic human rights around the world and the suffering that results sets me off. “I regard myself as a citizen of the world, and if that makes me ‘unpatriotic’, so be it.
“Oxfam’s grass-roots philosophy offers me an outlet for these feelings.”
Continuing the tradition of forest bush walks, this year’s regional Walk Against Want will start from Kallista Mechanics Institute and offer two 8km routes, plus a short pram-friendly route.
The highlight will be a guided walk with 16-year-old Alex Maisey of the Sherbrooke Lyrebird Survey Group who rewarded participants with magnificent lyrebird displays on the last walk.
Ken hopes both recent and previous walkers will make this last Walk Against Want one to remember.