A night on the edge
Opinion
‘I recommend you adopt the circle of sleep theory when looking for somewhere to bed down for the night.’
So said Adelaide Zoo boss Dr Phil Ainsley, adding ‘remember that in Jurassic Park, it was the people on the periphery who were taken first’.
If that wasn’t unnerving enough, he then warned of the zoo’s lyrebird, Nova, who can mimic the sound of absolutely anything. It was a perfectly pitched start to the 2025 Vinnies CEO Sleepout.
It wasn’t cold or wet or overly arduous but it was an insight and a chance to see the collective goodwill and desire to improve the plight of Australia’s homeless. That and the increased awareness that will ripple through as new and veteran fundraisers pass on their experiences.
It started, invariably, with mingling. Viktor, who looks after Audi SA, was doing his eighth sleepout. A top man, I got a little lost when we talked about the oddities you can buy in supermarkets nowadays – weirdly cement mixers are a big seller he said – and snuck a look at his name tag to check his position. He was indeed the boss, but for Aldi and not Audi. Cement mixers suddenly made sense.
Viktor was wearing a blue tag around his neck to show he is a seasoned sleeper, first timers are handed a yellow one, the idea being that if you’re looking lost then someone will help you out. It was a good start.
All 125 sleepers then made it upstairs for welcomes from Vinnies’ CEO, state president and the doom mongering Dr Ainsley after which a 22-year-old Indigenous woman, Jakirah Telfer, gave a stunning welcome to country speech and dance.
She’s been doing it for six years she said and wasn’t nervous, she’s performed at AFL matches with bigger crowds. Jakirah set the tone well but how the wider Indigenous population get counted among the national homeless is, I suspect, far from fully known.
The video of a homeless man, Duncan, was the focal point of the night, his story both sad and disturbing. How homelessness hit him and what his wider story was we weren’t told but as evidence of a desperate and lost soul, he ticked every box.
Video over, Duncan spoke to the evening’s host Tom Rehn on stage but unlike his speaking on camera, he was quiet and a little overawed. It felt like it said much about the impact this year has had on him.
Chat over, Fred’s Van volunteers arrived to feed us all exactly what they’d fed the homeless and needy an hour or two earlier. Commendable beyond words but a sausage in a piece of bread and a cup of soup will only go so far. More money and awareness, it’s why the sleepout matters.
Auction done, we trooped off to collect our cardboard, maximum three pieces each. Despite
Dr Ainsley’s foreboding, the edges were filled first, a few people bedding down instantly, a few others briefly engaged in kicking a footy.
If not warm, it’s tolerable when you bed down. Lie on your back and gaze at the stars and it’s doable, you think. Without warning, several spotlights targeted on the lawn next to the rotunda clicked off at 11.40pm. Curiouser still, the animals and birds chelping away in the background came to an instant halt also. And never reappeared.
Far more prevalent was the hum of the nearby traffic and snorers.Waking at 2.30am is an experience. The cardboard, once acceptable if never comfortable, is now neither and sleeping on your side is an unwelcome dig on the hips.
It gets wet too, the dew an unwanted covering across the sleeping bag.
There was breakfast just after 6am but some alarms went off up to an hour earlier. A man next to me folded his tarpaulin in a way that would awaken any sleeper, temporary or resident, and I got up too.
The sleepers left in droves and that was it, back to an inside office or home and, most certainly, a hot shower either way.
Jump to next article
