IT was four years ago when Kwinana resident Tanya Dupagne packed her bags and moved to the Wheatbelt to establish Camp Kulin and the 35-year-old has never looked back.
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The move has reaped countless rewards for the community of Kulin and hundreds of children from across the State, along with Ms Dupagne who was last week crowned the 2017 WA Rural Woman of the Year.
Ms Dupagne was among three WA finalists, including Esperance author Fleur McDonald and Agricultural Teaching Association national president Alysia Kepert.
The three women were recognised for their contributions to regional WA at the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation’s (RIRDC) Rural Women’s Awards at Government House last Wednesday night.
Ms Dupagne said she was surprised to win the prestigious award.
“I’m still taking it all in, I was totally not expecting to win so it did come as a really big shock,” she said.
It was when Ms Dupagne was working as chief executive officer for the Global Good Foundation that she struck up a relationship with the Kulin community.
She was encouraged to visit the town to explore its facilities for a prospect camp venue.
“I had to Google map Kulin, because I’d never heard of it before and I had no idea where it was,” she said.
“I went out and had a look and I was just blown away by the facilities they had there, it was just phenomenal.
“They had a state-of-the-art recreational centre and the biggest water slide in regional Australia, and due to the declining population in the town, there just wasn’t enough people in town to utilise the facilities to their full capacity.”
The Kulin community was so impressed by Ms Dupagne, they invited her to stay and from there, Camp Kulin was born.
The camp is designed to mentor and support children from across WA, with specialised camps for those who have suffered trauma and abuse.
More than 1500 young Western Australians visit Camp Kulin every year, and more than 180 towns have been represented in the past 18 months.
Camp Kulin offers school camps and excursions, holiday camps, and scholarship camps for children affected by trauma and abuse.
“We teach life skills like leadership, respect, trust, self confidence, self-esteem, perseverance, anger management and emotional regulation, but we do it in a way that’s fun so the kids don’t actually realise they’re learning.
“We’re doing what no one else is doing, early intervention prevention is really important and we’re working primarily with the eight to 12-year-old age group.
“It’s an age group not a lot of people are working with, that middle age group is forgotten a lot.”
More than 200 volunteers from across Australia are involved in the program and contribute $350,000 of volunteer time every year.
The program has won numerous awards, including the National Award for Local Government, the Premier’s Award for Public Sector Excellence, the Constable Care Child Safety Award and the WA Children’s Week Award.
Ms Dupagne plans to use the $10,000 Rural Women’s Award to build on the Camp Kulin program by developing a subsidised camp for women from regional WA to develop leadership skills and promote change in their communities.
She plans to set up two pilot camps, with one dedicated to women aged under 30 and the other for all ages.
“The statistics in Australia are just really scary at the moment, you’ve got increasing suicide rates, you’ve got mental health issues, you’ve got drug issues and everything that goes with it,” she said.
“We need to be providing support for these women, we need to provide them the skills, so they’re equipped to deal with those issues as they come up.
“The ladies then have the capacity to go back to their towns and make a difference.”
Ms Dupagne also hopes the award will encourage other city people to move to the country.
“So many people move from country to city, and I’ve done it in reverse and I think had someone not called me and said there’s opportunities available in the country, I wouldn’t have actually looked for it.
“I think it’s really important for people to know that opportunities aren’t just in the city, and actually go out to the country and make the most of it.
“The community is wanting them to do that, they’re really welcoming and really willing to listen.
“I have no doubt that if Camp Kulin had started in the city it wouldn’t have worked, because it’s the atmosphere, the community support, the willingness of people to actually get involved and want to make a difference in their community.”
