Mary Calls Time
Sr Mary Baulderstone ibvm has retired after almost 10 years at the ACRATH National Office in Melbourne. Mary kept ‘the wheels turning’ with grace and good humour and ACRATH is grateful for her service. She shared some of her reflections with us.
Q. Mary, when did your association with ACRATH begin?
A. In 2015 the Loreto Province leader asked me to consider working in the ACRATH National Office part time as a volunteer. ACRATH needed an assistant for the National Executive Officer (Christine Carolan) and so I commenced in 2016.
Q. Before working at ACRATH, did you know much about human trafficking and its existence in Australia
A. I was aware of the organisation but did not know much about human trafficking or its existence in Australia.
Q. When you began working in the ACRATH office at Albert Park in Melbourne, it was a small team. You have witnessed significant growth.
A. When I began working in the national office we were a few days away from the annual conference and AGM, so I hit the ground running. Christine’s time was taken up with meetings, round table discussions, funding applications and advocacy work in general. Over the past nine years, as the need has arisen, more people have been employed in the national office to support Christine. We now have a small team of dedicated people working in the national office.
Q. Your association with ACRATH has been very broad, but what has been your main role?
A. My main role has been ‘to keep the wheels turning’ by doing the secretarial tasks – telephone calls, emails, banking, petty cash, mailing, calendar distribution and more recently safeguarding. Since the COVID outbreak, I have worked mostly from home focusing on safeguarding and related issues. I also attended a parliamentary hearing in connection with the Labour Hire scheme in the building industry.
Q. How would you sum up your time at ACRATH?
A. It was eye-opening regarding human trafficking and enriching working with so many dedicated and generous people. It has been a privileged time for me. ACRATH is a small group taking small but important steps to educate people and ultimately to effect change in our society. The positive attitude of ACRATH members regarding tackling the problem of human trafficking is encouraging.
Mary remains an ACRATH Member.
