Spare a thought for our 2020 Year 12’s – the ‘6th form’ of earlier generations. It is true that worse – far worse – has befallen other generations of 17 – 18-year-olds within our collective memories: two world wars; wars on the Korean peninsula and Vietnam; the far more lethal Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918/1919 – just to name a few.
But listing these, saying it, doesn’t make it any easier for our kids who, as they approach the end of a particularly confused, limiting, frustrating, and complex ‘final’ year, see themselves ‘robbed’ yet again of one of their most highly anticipated celebrations… the coming-of-age, rite-of-passage, entry-to-individuality ‘schoolies break’ that has traditionally marked the moment where adolescence transforms to young adulthood.
I, for one, feel deeply for them. I hope we all can.
For those who live along the ‘schoolies belt’ of our southern coastline – particularly for those who live in Lorne – ‘schoolies’ has been a trust but worry, faith but fear, love and hate fortnight. Each year, kids have emerged – like butterflies unfolding from their confining chrysalises – to shake their wings, check they have a licenced 18-year-old in their midst, buy their intoxicant nectar at the local bottle shop or supermarket, and head to mass gatherings to test-drive their hormonal stew.
But… not this year! Well… not, at least, to the organised live music and mosh-pit pleasure-domes previously managed by the pubs and other major accommodation hubs.
Virus notwithstanding, all indications are that many/most of the usual tranche of kids are still coming… large numbers are known to have already ‘booked’ at Schoolies.com and through local real estate outlets. However, Covid-19 has effectively stymied the ability of the town to satiate their enthusiasm with any organised ‘fun’. Live venues are required to severely limit numbers. Live music and bands will be next to impossible. Gatherings will be limited to no more than 10 – fat chance, that – while masks, sanitising, and social distancing will be very difficult to enforce or sustain. These limitations raise the spectre of a gaggle of youth with exuberant joy to release, rattling about in a town that traditionally welcomes them, but which will have a severely restricted selection of venues in which to do so.
This year, above all others, will take a special effort from all – locals, town facilities, and the kids themselves – to make it work.
One group has regularly turned up and put in – year by year – to help the town give the kids a positive, safe experience … the Red Frogs. Founded by Andy Gourley on the Gold Coast in 1997, the ‘Froggers’ [as they have become known] have grown from a small band of young volunteers providing chaplaincy support for school leavers through the turbulent days of ‘schoolies week’ to become a national support group wherever schoolies gather.
While some may baulk at the ‘chaplaincy’ tag, the support movement should not be understood. It does not have covert religious undertones – as some have claimed – but is all and only concerned with youth safety and care at a life-moment when our youth can be vulnerable.
In years past, upwards of 50 Red Frog volunteers have been on-site in Lorne with the sole intention of seeing every school-leaver return home safely after having had a positive interaction with the Red Frogs and the wider Lorne community. Working with representatives from the Surf Coast Shire, Victoria Police, the YSAS (Youth Support and Advocacy Service), and Security services, they have provided ‘ears on the ground’, ‘surrogate older siblings’, and immediate responders for most of the schoolie-related incidents that can occur throughout this time.
After years of building trust in the Red Frogs name, the ‘Frogger’ volunteers have become the valued ‘first call’ that schoolies make in almost every scenario. With the Froggers providing emotional support to the kids, calming nerves and providing distraction, security can focus on any real risks to safety. Froggers are expert at summoning the ambos to attend acutely unwell kids and provide direct information to the police to pre-empt deteriorating situations.
Last year, Froggers logged 54,000 interactions with ‘schoolies’ over the schoolies period. Interactions can be as simple as a ‘hello’ or a ‘high five’, or as crucial as an ambulance call at 5am. 149 ‘red’ or ‘yellow’ calls to summon an ambulance were made. 153 free pancake cook-ups were provided, fracturing the culture of binge-drinking and ensuring that alcohol consumption is paired with food intake. ‘Frogger’ bus drivers safely took 2,335 schoolies ‘off the street’ and home to their accommodation through the week. Statistically, schoolies is one of the most dangerous periods of a person’s life in Australia, and these numbers reflect the mammoth effort put in by all the safety responders in Lorne who ensure that preventative measures are in place before life-altering decisions are made.
Generously supported with funding from the Lorne Op Shop… how good is that indefatigable community team… each volunteer Frogger also contributes an additional $300 of their own money, simply to support the privilege of being involved.
Unfortunately, Frogger volunteer numbers have been cut back this year to 25. This, despite heightened local concerns around the lack of activities that have resulted from the Covid-19 restrictions. This year it will take a very special effort from all Lorne locals to ensure that the schoolies break is a safe yet enjoyable experience for our retiring Year 12’s… for it is a break they desperately need and deserve.
For their part, and while there will be inevitable frustration and much understandable disappointment at the lack of venues, gigs, free gathering, and group association, we ask them to maintain respect for local property and local sensitivities as they plot their paths from school into the wider world.
John Agar
