Speeches
Thursday, 30 January 2025
Bene Aged Care Reception to Celebrate 50 years
Rod and I are delighted to welcome you to Government House to celebrate the 50th anniversary of what started as the Italian Village Incorporated and has evolved to become what we now know as Bene Aged Care.
That’s 50 years of compassion; 50 years of understanding.
Today we acknowledge and celebrate those generous doctors, Italian community leaders, businesses and others who recognised a need and made things happen, by planning, by fundraising and by sheer hard work.
In the 1970s, culturally appropriate nursing homes did not exist. But by harnessing the power of a community working together, the original “Italian Village” at St Agnes began.
As many of you are aware my late mother, Jennifer Cashmore, felt very strongly about ensuring dignity and agency in old age, particularly in palliative care.
As then Minister for Health, she alongside Dr Carmine De Pasquale unveiled the Foundation stone of the then Adelaide Senior Citizens Village at St Agnes in 1981, the culmination of many years of hard work and planning.
On that day she remarked that the foundation stone, of clean, strong Italian marble, was representative of the strength and generosity of the South Australian Italian community, which continue today.
The village’s humble beginnings were the catalyst for growth, with centres now at Campbelltown, St Clair Woodville North and St Pauls Hahndorf and services expanding to include day care and home care.
Friends,
A couple of years ago, while visiting my mother in respite care on her way home from a hospital stay, I observed how animated residents were when they were able to communicate with staff and visitors in their own language.
Language and culture run deep, not just within our community, but deeply within ourselves. They shape our sense of self and our sense of wellbeing.
Language helps residents feel safe, empowered, cared for and loved.
The Italian community in South Australia is widely admired for its contribution to building our State, particularly in the post-war years.
The Italian love of family remains at the heart of the community’s commitment to Bene Aged Care.
After all, our society’s elderly are our family and deserve the best care we can provide.
I thank everyone involved in the success of Bene Aged Care – the committees, boards, staff, volunteers, Federal and State governments, the supporters - for your contributions past and present.
In doing so I must pay tribute to Dr Carmine De Pasquale who, when just out of medical school in the 1970s, recognised a need and harnessed people for action.
I will be delighted to present to Dr De Pasquale’s son, also Dr Carmine De Pasquale, a certificate of appreciation a little later in recognition of Dr De Pasquale senior’s exceptionally long service to the Italian Benevolent Foundation and his diligence in compiling a history of Bene.
To everyone, on your 50th anniversary, I wish you well for the future and your on-going commitment to meeting the needs of our ageing population.
You were well named 50 years ago and remain so.
Bene.