The theme for the March Seminary of the 3rd Age series is People on the Edge.

What was really going on at the ‘coal-face’ of Australia’s infamous immigration detention centre in the harsh outback town of Woomera in 2000?

Rev Dr Tom Atherton (UCA Minister) privately documented six confronting months of pastoral engagement with an increasingly hostile regime and increasingly desperate people seeking Australia’s protection. Margaret Gunn heard about this and exchanged emails with Tom over this period, as Tom found remarkable ways, despite daunting odds, to offer pastoral care to the detainees (and their guards). Margaret kept this correspondence hidden for over 20 years, but before Tom died in 2020, he and his wife Judith gave their permission for his story to be made public.

Margaret Gunn worked professionally as a teacher, mainly with newly-arrived adult migrants and refugees in three States – Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia. Her contact with Rev Dr Tom Atherton began with a simple letter of encouragement, and exposed her to the hidden human stories behind government immigration policy particularly as it impacted people seeking asylum and refugees. Now retired, she and her husband Peter are building a boat, working in their local church, continuing writing and gardening projects and enjoying an extended family which includes bio-security officers, psychologists, medical and administrative experts, professional cyclists and journalists as well as six grandsons aged 3 to 16.

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