Gary Ella is a proud Yuin and Bidjigal man and has had a successful career in Rugby Union, Aboriginal Affairs and the Sydney Olympic Games and, more recently, for Randwick Council. We spoke to him about his memories of growing up in La Perouse, the importance of community and a life lived off the land.

I grew up in La Perouse and have always considered it home. Back then, there were wharves on the beach, where the boats would come in. We’d make our pocket money by diving off the wharf to retrieve coins thrown in by the tourists. There were a lot more fishermen in the bay then, too – they’d go out looking for a catch after stormy weather as the fish were more active.

My father was a fisherman and part of the Sydney clan, and my mother was from Nowra on the South Coast. When they first met, mum and dad moved up and down the coastline with the different seasons, eventually settling in Phillip Bay in Sydney when my father was offered a permanent job. Their life was very typical of Aboriginal families – mostly camping on farms and in the bush, moving around with the seasons.

I had 11 siblings, and back then, kids were always outdoors – our parents sent us out first thing in the morning and expected us back as soon as the first lights came on in the house.

I first played for the Wallabies as an amateur rugby union player in 1981. We’d be touring for up to 14 weeks at a time and had an allowance of 8 pounds a day, which probably got you a few beers. I represented Australia six times between 1982 and 1988, which was a very proud time for me.

In 1986 I was sent to work in Bourke in rural NSW for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. Most of the projects I worked on were health or employment-based, but we were also ensuring the infrastructure in these communities – water supply, housing construction, roads – were sound and weatherproof.

There have been some pretty amazing moments in my career. I joined the Sydney Olympic Games Organising Committee (SOCOG) as Program Manager in 1997 and was responsible for managing projects that included Aboriginal components, such as the torch relay. I visited Uluru often and worked with the communities there to ensure the start of the torch relay was respectful of Indigenous culture. I also worked on youth camps, the opening and closing ceremonies, and merchandising. We were busy, but there was the opportunity to go and watch sport – at one point I was watching the Olympic Boxing Finals sitting next to Evander Holyfield!

I coached professionally with the NSW Waratahs, Leinster (Ireland) Parramatta and the Galloping Greens for 10 years before joining Council in 2015 as Coordinator Community Development. We assess where the gaps are in community services and help the community to understand what is available to them – be it seniors, youth, Aboriginal or multicultural communities. The great thing about working here is it’s very local, and there’s the opportunity to really build relationships with the community.

I have fond memories of La Perouse and the Yarra Bay Bushtucker Trail – a lot of the artwork was done by my brothers, cousins or uncles. As young kids we’d sit at the Bay eating pig faces and waiting for the fish to come in on the boats. Once it arrived, you’d cook it over the camp fire – it doesn’t happen like that anymore.