Before he goes, one of the small things on the bucket list of purely personal goals for Norm Allan would be to see a piece of green, unused space turned into a place of reflection for his mob.
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And what Dukey Allan wants is something so pure and simple it should surely be a “give-me”.
Dukey’s a proud Gomeroi bloke, known to his tribe and the wider community of Tamworth as a good sport.
His most recent work has been as a health worker with the Aboriginal Health Service.
But his lesson is salutary to all of us.
He’s dying of liver and bowel cancer, and says himself he ignored some symptoms of things not being quite right for two years, until he couldn’t pretend any longer and the diagnosis was delivered with a bomb.
Cancer is the number one killer of Aboriginal people.
Cancer doesn’t discriminate of course, and Dukey emphasises that point.
It kills thousands of us.
Before it kills him, there’s plenty of personal and altruistic goals, as we said, for a bloke most older sportsmen will remember from the soccer, the football, the Oz Tag, the cricket and the basketball games he played with the children of the ’60s and the young men of the ’70s and ’80s.
One that would mean much to many, is the dedication of what he called the Happy Camp on Forest Rd.
The Allans are one of a handful of traditional families in Tamworth. His family was part of a community of about 60 Aboriginal people who lived on that reserve on Forest Rd in about 1959.
Older Tamworthians will remember it.
It wasn’t a mission, but they lived there in tin shanties for about seven families, before moving into town.
The reserve’s traditional name is Walaay Gayaa and it remains a special place to Norm and to the other traditional families.
He’d like to see it transformed into parkland, where families can go and spend time together, have a barbecue, play games and enjoy the freedom of the great outdoors in a “happy” place.
But he wants it for everyone, not just Aboriginal people.
They’ve got a grant to put a plaque up there but he’d like to see more.
It’s just on the left as you head up the road towards Forest Hills, past BUPA, just there on the corner of Monteray St.
It’s Crown land, and like Dukey, we think it would be a wonderful place for a piece of quiet reflection and history for everyone.
It’s a great idea.
