Leigh Dunstan (1994-1999) and Kylie Dunstan (nee Musgrove) (1994-1999)

Leigh Dunstan (Beaconhills 1994-1999) is very involved in two significant community projects. The first involves helping with disabled sailing at the Docklands Yacht Club where the ‘Sailability’ programme operates. Leigh’s involvement with sailing goes back to his school days when his father, Mark Dunstan, established the Beaconhills Sailing Club in the early 1990s. Leigh was, in fact, a member of the Beaconhills team which won the Victorian Schools Sailing title on two occasions. Leigh also represented Victoria in sailing and won a Victorian title in the Javelin class. Leigh was also a House Captain of Leaver during his time at Beaconhills.

Leigh has been  involved with ‘Sailability’ for six years and, as Commodore of the club at 27, he is the youngest Commodore in Victoria. Leigh spends every Sunday at Docklands organising and helping to run the sailing programs for people with a wide range of disabilities, including Motor Neurone Disease and Cerebral Palsy. He has also been helping Ame Barnbrook, a disabled sailor with no arms or legs, try to achieve her dream of participating in the ParaOlympics – unfortunately, she just missed out on selection in the team that competed at Beijing, so they have now set their sights on London in 2012.

The ‘Sailability’ Docklands Yacht Club has programs and a philosophy which have evolved from being an organisation which began to provide ‘sailing for the disabled’ to ‘facilitating sailing for people for disabilities’ to its current role as an organisation which provides ‘sailing for everyone, regardless of ability’.  It is a very community-oriented  club and the ‘forgiving nature’ of the Access Dinghy range of sailing boats, which they use, means that people who have never sailed before through to people with severe disabilities can enjoy all the thrills that sailing has to offer.

Together with his wife, Kylie, Leigh is also involved in the DebRA Foundation - Kylie was also a Beaconhills student (1994-1999). They have been married for three years and are currently living in Frankston where they run their own house painting business.  Like Leigh, Kylie was also involved in a wide range of activities at school, including House Captain of Leaver and the Red Cross Murray Marathon, winning the girls schools team section numerous times.

The DebRA Foundation is an organization that was set up to help sufferers of the debilitating disease Epidermolysis Bullosa, a skin disease that requires constant use of dressings.  Leigh and Kylie became involved with DebRA through a DVD they saw about the disease and the difficulties parents of children with EB faced. In 2008 they initiated a major fundraising campaign for DebRA, including a banquet auction in May which raised over $50,000 on the night – overall, their campaign has raised over $100,000 to date.

In conjunction with a group of parents of EB sufferers, they also organised a trek along the Kokoda Track in Papua- New Guinea to raise awareness about the disease. Leigh was not able to participate in the trek himself but he was able to travel to Port Moresby as part of the support team.  The event generated a great deal of publicity for DebRA, especially when one of the trekkers had to be evacuated onto a U.S. Navy ship!

Leigh and Kylie are now in the process of organising another trek in 2009, this time to the highlands of Vietnam.

If you are interested in further information on either of these projects, contact ‘Trekking For a Life Free of Pain’ at www.trekforeb.com  or contact ‘Docklands Yacht Club’ at www.docklands.yachting.org.au.