ARMY veteran David Locke knows all too well the inner battles that can follow after leaving the service.
For years the 37-year-old Rye resident, who was deployed to Afghanistan, grappled with the weight of post-traumatic stress and a sense of isolation. “I was pretty cooked … I worked for a few years (after leaving the army in 2012) but mentally couldn’t handle it,” he said, which included a time of self-medicating with alcohol and drugs to cope.
But it was his love of fishing that ultimately helped him reclaim his life, and more recently, the discovery of Veterans for Fishing (VFF), that’s brought him and other peninsula veterans together. VFF’s mission is to empower veterans by taking them outdoors to be surrounded by the serenity of the countryside and to engage in the therapeutic activity of fishing. It helps enhance their mental health while at the same time building lasting connections and meaningful experiences.
Locke has about 15 veterans on the peninsula whom he takes out regularly for fishing near Rye and Dromana, creating their own path of healing. “I just thought I’d love to just take veterans out, even just to get them out of their head just for a few hours while we’re out there,” Locke said. “I supply all the rods and reels and everything and all the gear and they just come along.”
Asked if fishing had also turned his life around, Locke said “definitely, massively”. “It’s a reason to sort of put your boots on in the morning,” he said. “I’ve had suicide attempts, and all that sort of stuff and fishing saved me more or less.”
The VFF’s founder and president Chris McAleer launched the state-wide charity two years ago with its success going from “strength-to-strength”. Today it’s a finalist in this year’s Volunteering Awards Victoria in the grassroots category and has received a grant from the state government’s Anzac Day 2024-25 proceeds fund.
“By bringing people together that are going through similar experiences we can help others understand they are not alone,” McAleer, who was awarded an Australia Day Medallion for his work, said. He said it was particularly important to engage with younger veterans who were becoming less connected with their local RSLs, noting “we want to stop that social isolation” and “we figured fishing’s a good icebreaker”.
McAleer encouraged all veterans or those wanting to volunteer on the peninsula to get involved by visiting the Veterans for Fishing Facebook page or call 0435 110 736.
Lifeline 13 11 14; Beyond Blue 1300 22 46 36
First published in the Mornington News 11 February 2025
