Walk of pride

By Susan Merrell

Frances Wootton, popularly known as Reverend Wootton, will be among prominent community members whose contribution will be recognised with a plaque on the Bondi promenade this month.

This honour is part of Waverley Council’s ‘Recognising our Community Leaders Walk’ that includes both the Bronte and Bondi promenades.

Two other locals, Phil O’Sullivan and Judge Bob Bellear, will also be honoured with a plaque on the ‘walk’.

Rev Wootton, born and raised in Bondi, says she was ‘shocked’ by the announcement. ‘I’m just one of a lot of wonderful people in Bondi who love their community,’ she said.

But as the prime instigator behind the establishment of the Norman Andrews House homeless shelter, she’s a worthy recipient.

‘Of all the awards I’ve received, this is the most meaningful. I live here and love it. It’s part of me,’ she said.

That sentiment is obviously reciprocated since this year it was the public that nominated the winners.

The community minister has received other awards, including a Centenary Medal in 2003 and an Order of Australia in 2006.

Rev Wootton was originally employed by the Uniting Church’s Chapel by the Sea to identify gaps in community services so the church could better respond to local needs.

She was shocked by the homelessness, drug addiction and mental illness in the community and affronted by the exploitation of the vulnerable by unscrupulous boarding house owners.

Her dream was to establish a centre that would provide services for the disadvantaged. After many temporary solutions, in 1992 Waverley Council and the Uniting Church jointly purchased a property for this purpose. They called it Norman Andrews House after a homeless man killed in a hit-run accident on Campbell Parade.

But Rev Wootton’s important work almost didn’t happen. When her local church minister first offered her the job, she hesitated.   

‘I hadn’t had any training,’ she said. ‘I wondered what I could offer.’   

Lucky for Bondi’s disadvantaged, she decided to ‘give it a go’. That was 25 years ago. 

Since then, the community minister has touched countless lives, like the man she approached in church to play Santa for a children’s party. She understood his initial reluctance when she learnt he was hiding from the police.

Through this contact, the man became involved with the church, successfully reformed his life and become an active volunteer at the centre for many years. And he made a wonderful Santa.

‘It’s not always an easy job,’ says Wootton of her ministry. ‘You have to sit in on a lot of pain.  But when you see people’s lives change, it’s so rewarding.’