Diary Entries

Jan 1, 1985  
 

Today I was offered the appointment as an honorary Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia and I refused it. The government have shown such appalling behavior leading towards the healthcare towards Aboriginal people. They have shown no interest and have helped in no way at all. I believe that all people should have equal access to healthcare with no people privileged and no people ignored. I believe that the government need to act and fix their past problems focusing more on the indigenous population to create equality and reduce poverty.  

 

The extensive poverty in the indigenous community has led to crowed living conditions and lack of sterile water which result in high levels of eye diseases such as trachoma and cataracts. For example, 80% of the indigenous population were found to have trachoma in some regions of the N.T. (Source: NMA)  

 

Oct 11, 1990  
 

Today I was awarded the title of being Australian of the Year. Helping others has always been what I believe in and I don’t help for praise, fame or money. I help others because I know it is the right thing to do. Curing someone of blindness is such a happy and joyous moment and it always warms me inside when I know that I gave someone the gift of sight. I would also like to say that just because I accepted the Award does not mean that I will forgive what the Government has done.  

And as I said on that podium; ‘I am very concerned about not saying things that need to be said. I have said things that needed to be said, and to that extent you can call me provocative. You see I have been very concerned about my own cowardice, and most of us are. And this involves being afraid when you are with yourself about the times you should have done something and you didn’t, when you should have said something and you didn’t. So my provocativeness may be a foible or a function of that attributes.’ ((QUOTE)  Fred Hollows) 

The Governments priorities are wrong. I continue to argue that when the Government constructs one missile they don’t think what else that money could have been used for. That money could have restored sight to hundreds of thousands of underprivileged people, and instead they built a bomb.  
 

Oct 20, 1992 
 

Writing this I know I’m on death row. Knowing that I completed my goal of expanding our knowledge and capacity to handle blindness fills me with joy. Having the relief that thousands of people have been able to enjoy life because of the things I did, and I am so thankful for it. But I have one more challenge to face, one more goal to reach, one more wall to break. To continue my vision I will create the Fred Hollows Foundation. The targets of the Foundation is to eradicate the avoidable blindness that we have in our world today. To improve the life length probability for the Indigenous community. Finally, to help pull our world out of the hole of blindness we dug ourselves into. 

Creating this reassures me that my legacy will not be forgotten and the world may still have hope.