Member Stories

My name is Ken Hearne, I am a proud murri man from the Giabul tribe. I was born out at Surat Queensland and grew up in Roma where I met and married my wife and had 3 children, 2 girls and a boy.

I worked for my father from the age of 9, he ran ring barking camps around South West Queensland then as I got older I went on to be a slaughter man in the meat works industry around Queensland and Victoria, I enjoyed playing cricket, roo shooting and pig chasing and motorbike riding.

At the age of 41 due to the nature of the work I was doing and the heavy lifting and straining from laboring work I ended up being diagnosed with a disease in my spine where the spine is collapsing on itself and type 2 diabetes. Within a few months I had gone from being a healthy working man to someone who on some days was unable to dress himself without assistance or get out of bed due to pain which then left me unable to work.

This was very frustrating and hard on my whole family but being the determined person I am, I didn’t let it stop me from doing things I enjoy, I just had to adapt and change ways I did things which was hard at first but slowly I got there.

I currently live in Toowoomba and enjoy gardening, watching sports and spending time with my family.