A Lismore Citizen of the Year and OAM recipient, Ken Jolley, is an institution around Lismore. A long-time stalwart of the Lismore RSL and the Vietnam Tunnel Rats Association, he is most often seen with a book of raffle tickets in hand collecting money for the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter.  

I was born here in Lismore, out at Rock Valley. Dad had a dairy farm out there. I had to leave school to go to work on the farm because he wasn't making any money and he had to come to town to work. 

In 1961 I joined the military, joined the army. I was in Malaya and that for two years, attached to the British Army, and then when I went to Vietnam for ‘66 and ‘67. I was a tunnel rat over there - we used to go down into the tunnels - and I had a couple of pretty scary calls. 

Ken with a mate in 1966 and 2018. PHOTO: Supplied.

When I came back I married a local girl and had kids and that's where I am. I got a home living here in Goonellabah and worked all my life here. A jack of all trades, master of none. So that's what I did. Two kids. Five grandkids. Fantastic. I love ‘em. Just had them all home for Christmas.

When I was in Vietnam, the dustoff pilots, if you got wounded or hit you were about 50 minutes away from hospital. Those pilots would come under gun fire, pick you up and take you out. One of the first pilots flying for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter was a dustoff pilot and he was the one that got me involved raising money just selling raffle tickets.

I started off selling tickets in a fat bullock competition, three for $2 over at the Lismore Showground. The weight of the fat bullock. Used to do that every show. And that's when it first started 37 years ago. I've done that, selling raffle tickets doing whatever I can to help for all that time. I still do and I still love it. They’ll probably bury me with a ticket book.

The main thing I enjoy about it is the people. The people you meet. Everyone who comes to you is positive, good people, and I think I'm a people person. I just love doing it. I do the markets, Lismore Carboot, Bangalow. Any events, I go. I'm going down to Evans Head for Australia Day. So that's what I do mate, and I love doing it. 

Ken doing what he does best - raise money for the chopper. PHOTO: Supplied.

I also do the Driver Reviver station down at New Italy. I've been involved in that for about ten years, down there every school holidays mainly around Christmas. Just giving people a cup of coffee. The people you meet there are just unbelievable, from all over the world. A lot of backpackers, a lot of people on holidays. And they just love a chat, and I love a chat. That's how it is.

I get a lot of stories from down there. Everyone reckons Australia is the greatest country in the world, which I agree with. Last time I was down there I met these two Danes, one was 80 and the other was 79 and they were travelling around Australia in a Kombi Van and I thought what a great couple. That's what they do and they love it. 

Of course, there's an ulterior motive there because we get a donation from them for the helicopter. There's a donation box there and it's split up between us, the RFS and the SES and we get a portion of that.

It's like I've got "please tell me" written on my forehead. I've heard so many stories. Good stories too. Three or four months ago this woman came up and said her relation was one of the first to be picked up by the helicopter way back in 1984. Things like that. You try to document these things that people say because it's history and we've got to keep that history.

I’ve never thought about how much I've raised. I wouldn’t know. I just do it. Whatever I end up with in the afternoon, I didn't have that morning. That's the way to look at it.

Everyone knows me, of course. As I said, I love people. I just love interacting with people and I think that's part of the strategy. You can't just sit at a table with a raffle book reading a newspaper or doing a crossword, you can't do it. You've got to engage people as they're walking past, and that's what I do.

Our biggest problem raising money for the helicopter is getting younger people to volunteer. Everyone wants to say I'm working for the rescue helicopter, but you've got to put that into practice too.

The thing is, experience in life doesn't come at a desk, experience in life comes with engaging people. Volunteering with whichever organisation, engaging with people for that organisation is one of the greatest rewards you can get, that's what I think. 

Ken the helicopter man. PHOTO: Supplied.

I used to be involved more in the RSL. I've been president and all that but I've sort of backed off a bit because of the helicopter. But I'm still involved in the RSL and with the association of the Tunnel Rats. We've got a big association in Australia. 

One of the main things I’ve been working on recently is the memorial over at North Lismore, which has taken about two years. I was one of the main instigators of that there, I was sort of project manager of that and I've got it all up and running.

Where the memorial is now is the original site where the troops left for World War I because there was a railway station there. They camped on the showground, boarded the trains there at North Lismore to go to Brisbane and then to the battlefields all over the world. 

In 1926 they put a monument there with 145 names of those who didn't come home, but later on we moved it from there to the RSL Hall over at South Lismore so we could look after it, keep it in good repair and everything. After we sold the hall, we moved it to the railway station at South Lismore so anyone coming through could see all the names on the monument. But two days after we moved it there the trains stopped and no one will ever go again.

Anyhow, two years ago the sub branch got together and said we've got to do something, because it was in disrepair. So I went around to a lot of the business houses here in Lismore and got a lot of help from some great people to help me shift it. The Lismore City Council were great. So we shifted it over there, and Keith Smith over at Beckinsales Monumental Masons, he grouted it all and fixed it all up and I decided I had to do all the names again, I put a fence around it, I got all the materials from local people. Richmond Sand and Gravel were fantastic. Unbelievable. The turf that's on we got it from up near Caboolture. Everyone pitched in. I'm personally so grateful for what they did, because we couldn't have done it otherwise.

We decided we had to get a special plaque. Down in Victor Harbour in South Australia I saw a plaque and took a photo of it, took it home and took it over to Keith and said to him: "What are we going to do?”. He said he'd get it made. I went around to a few of the business houses and I got $1200 cash. The state government came through with another $1200, it cost $2400 and we got it all. Got the minister to come up again and unveiled the plaque. We had the school kids all there. A lot of school kids. Richmond River, Kadina, Lismore High, Blue Hills. We just made a special day of it to unveil it. 

Ken Jolley with Lismore State MP Thomas George, NSW Minister for Veterans Affairs David Elliott and Lismore High School student Freya Thompson. PHOTO: Supplied.

We can't let that memory die. We can't let those names on that obelisk go into oblivion. We can't. We've got to honour them because they gave us Australia. That's my thoughts on it. They gave their lives for us and that's the way I look at it and that's why I've done it.

I've been in touch with Kevin Hogan about getting 145 poppies, that's all the names on the obelisk, and on Anzac Day I'm putting them from the obelisk up the hill to where the railway station was. That's what I'm going to do.

Australia's given me everything I've got. Everything. And I just seem to think that I want to give back something to Australia. That's how I feel about it.