The Wright stuff

Andrew Mathieson
DIANE Wright’s vision is nothing new – it’s been precisely 100 years in the making.
Call it coincidence or fate but the founder of Geelong’s Anam Cara House has always followed her great-great aunt’s footsteps out of a sense of duty.
Annette Bear-Crawford was one of the leaders for the women’s movement in the 19th Century and a notable advocate for improving their lives through education.
“She was born on the same date I was born, just 100 years beforehand,” Diane points out.
“That was in 1853 and she died at 46 from pneumonia in England – I was born in 1953.
“I keep a photo of her in my home and I can say she’s been an inspiration.”
As well as creating several Victorian women’s suffrage bodies that initiated the push for female voting rights worldwide, Annette also helped establish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
The prominent social reformer’s most enduring legacy was raising more than 63,000 shillings – equivalent to $2.5 million today – to establish Queen Victoria Hospital for unmarried mothers and their children.
The achievements fill Diane with pride.
“I’ve actually done some research and hopefully one day when we’re able to write her life story it will be made into a film,” she hopes.
“I actually went over to England to do that research because she did a lot of her social work over there in the early stages.
“I also went to her gravesite and I felt this really powerful connection to her.”
That spirit somehow guided the development of Geelong’s new Anam Cara House, which provides respite for carers of terminally ill people.
Just like her great descendant, Diane campaigned hard to heal the sick.
She called on Geelong priest and friend Father Kevin Dillon to persuade the St Mary’s parishes and Melbourne archdioceses for a presbytery to be the home of Anam Cara House’s “social model” for palliative respite care.
Diane headed a steering committee that raised about $625,000 to turn a Myers Street presbytery into Anam Cara House.
“The building itself was a very distinguished lady who needed a facelift,” Diane chuckles, “that would be a nice way to say it. But thanks to the support of the Geelong community, it’s been refurbished to the highest standards.”
Dianne has a story from the presbytery’s past for every room and enjoys guiding visitors through the immaculately-detailed house.
But it delivers much more than beds to rest.
“We wanted it to be a place where there was light and laughter,” Diane says.
The one-time Colac mother first worked with children of special needs soon after parenthood.
She did not feel comfortable in leadership positions until her father, an influential man behind Royal Guide Dogs for the Blind, asked her: “What difference are you going to make in the world?”
“I had a very severe speech impediment as a child, so I didn’t have a strong voice at all,” Diane emphasises.
“I don’t see myself as a strong person but I suppose it gave me an understanding what it’s like not to have a voice.”
Geelong’s Zonta Club for women’s advancement saw fit to hand respite volunteer Diane an Outstanding Woman Achievement Award for 2008.
The very mention of the honour draws Diane to take off her glasses, place her free hand under her chin and muse about what it all means.
“I was very humbled by that but, to be honest, I don’t see myself as extraordinary at all,” she smiles.
“I see myself as a very simple person doing something that has been laid down in my heart.”