By Alesha Capone
Richard Dove is the Settlement Services Coordinator at the Wyndham Community & Education Centre, sits on Wyndham council’s Cultural Diversity portfolio committee and is a member of the Western Union Writers.
Tell me about yourself.
I was born in Wyndham and I lived in Tower Road, Werribee until I was aged three, then mum and dad moved to Geelong. My dad’s two older brothers, Robert and Dennis Dove, were fairly well known in Werribee. Uncle Dennis used to manage the Werribee Football Club, and he and Uncle Robert owned Dove’s Sports Store. Uncle Robert also opened up Dove’s Toy Kingdom on Watton Street.
My mother came from America with her family and went to Werribee High, where she met my dad. Dad worked at the Board of Works for 21 years. I grew up going to the old Werribee Farm barn dances and Christmas gatherings.
After I joined Victoria Police in 1990, I was stationed at the Werribee station from 1993 to 1997. I later became a multicultural liaison officer for the west of Victoria, I had a lot to do with Werribee in that time.
The Werribee Community Centre (now the WCEC) was here and I worked very closely with them. They were running the Wyndham Humanitarian Network and I ended up chairing a number of sub-groups. In 2008 we held a big Sudanese community forum and created a report, which won a national award. We brought together the South Sudanese community and took down all their issues – with health, employment, youth, education – and created the report as a way to go forward.
What changes have you seen occur in Wyndham?
One would be population, Wyndham used to finish at Sayers Road. The other thing that’s changed is all the different cultures who need settlement help – not just refugees, but everyone. It doesn’t need to be called settlement, but everyone needs a way to feel as if they belong.
What do you enjoy about working at the WCEC?
I started here in March 2017. I wanted to get back to working closely with the community. We run lots of programs and link in with many other organisations. Refugees need settlement because they mostly come from rural areas. Some have never spent time in a classroom, so they don’t know English. It’s about giving them a hand up. We have goodwill here – we tend to look at what we can do, rather than what we can’t do.
What else do you enjoy?
I’ve been with Western Union Writers, which started in Werribee, since 2009. Writing is my other passion. I’ve finished one book, which I’m trying to get published, and am half way through another.
