Aboriginal health

Gippsland Women’s Walking Group

Maria Musselwhite describes a walking group formed by three local women in East Gippsland which has grown into a program of physical activity, gym visits and support with 30 regular participants.

Video Transcript

Hi!  I’m Maria, an Aboriginal Health Worker. I commenced the walking group in Bairnsdale as I saw a need in our community. We have women with chronic illness like diabetes and heart disease. It is important for women to do some kind of exercise.

Some women in our community had not tried to do any exercise as there were no groups run for them so I had the opportunity to start a group.

In the beginning, we had only three people in our walking group. Motivation was our biggest challenge. It was hard getting ourselves into a routine.

Every trip is a surprise as I take the women in different places like the Mitchell River, Nicholson, Metung or Paynesville Lake. We really enjoy our day of walking. At the end of the walk, there is fresh fruit salad, yoghurt and juice for us.

After we got motivated in walking for ten months, we wanted more so we started gym sessions. Now there are three sessions a week and one walking. Since we’ve been coming to the gym, we are more confident, social and motivated.

The walking group has been going for two years and the gym group for over twelve months. It was a slow process but they are getting bigger as the Koori grapevine gets the word out. Now there are 30 women in our walking and gym groups. We think our success is because we are more motivated and learned as we go. It has been good for our health, social and emotional wellbeing. If there are girls who wanna have fun, come to the walking and gym groups.

My name is Irene Cooper, I do the gym with Maria twice a week down here in Bairnsdale.
I’ve always been a person that’s always mostly sat at home and just getting out and being able to do things with other community members I really enjoy. I have never felt so much fitter and happier in myself since I’ve been doing it. My motto is now just to try and keep fit and yeah just enjoy and keep doing what I’m doing.

Hi! I’m Sue Mackenzie from R U Fit. I’m a Personal Trainer and I have been training the girls from the GEGAC Co-op for the last twelve months and over this we’ve seen fantastic results with their weight loss, their strength, their general fitness. We’ve seen them attempt to quit smoking and the huge improvement in their social and mental benefits coming in and being with friends and seeing the results they can have.

Hi! My name is Fera. I’m one of the three women in the beginning. I’ve seen our walking group expand to a big mob of us. I’ve achieved a lot, feel healthier and happier within myself. I also feel a better connection with the women in the community. And with our logo shirt and our shoes, we are a deadly group of women. When we get together we have fun. We don’t judge each other. Now we all say g’day and we’re all on the same level.

When we walk we can talk about problems, yarn and laugh with each other.