Cairns classics - Allen Minniecon

Allen fulfilling vow to make a difference

In late 2004, half an hour before his 19th wedding anniversary, Allen Minniecon had to make the heartbreaking decision to turn off his wife Sue’s life support.

Sue had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia only a few days before.

It was a traumatic period in Allen's life, coming only a short time after the death of his father-in-law. And only two months after losing Sue, Allen's own father passed away. 

“The kids are still feeling it today,” Allen says. “Their mum was their role model. She was a true Christian. She’d go in every night and talk and pray with the kids; then often she would go on praying for them into the night.” 

Allen experienced on an emotional roller-coaster ride in the two years following these family deaths.

“I went through extreme grief, loss, depression, anxiety and thoughts of suicide,” he says. “But, in 2006, I sat on the edge of my bed and decided to turn my life completely back to God (rather than take it) and make a difference in the lives of others."

Allen has been involved in ministry ever since, and today he is pioneering the role of Salvation Army Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Development Worker. He is involved in ministry with the support of his second wife Jenny.

One of 10 children of Aboriginal and Australian South Sea Islander descent, Allen says he grew up in a very happy and loving home, although he was extremely shy. But at the age of 15 he discovered a false bravado offered by alcohol and drugs.

Despite falling into this lifestyle, Allen met Sue and they had their first child. They soon married, and then came a major turning point in Allen's life.

“I got up early one morning and ended up walking into a church and I heard this man preach,” Allen says. “At the end he said something about going forward for prayer. I went forward even though I was still drunk and on drugs from the night before. A big group of people came around and started praying for me and I have never cried so much in my life. 

“When I did stop, I felt so light. Everything around me was so different. It was amazing. It was a real God transformation. Every addiction was instantly gone and I went on to read the Bible over and over and over again. I almost couldn’t let it out of my hands for many, many years!”

Knowing first-hand just how radically God can change a life,  Allen says: “From then on I went through Aboriginal communities with others, did big tent rallies, outreaches, saw miracles and saw people’s lives changed for good. Unbelievable things happened!”

The traumatic experiences of 2004 to 2006 tested Allen's faith, but after coming through that, with the help of God, he met and married Jenny in 2007.

The couple went on to run two Salvation Army corps and then spent three years in the remote outback as Indigenous youth workers. 

Allen’s current work (with Jenny now based at home as a writer and in an active support role) takes him to Indigenous camps in and around Cairns, and further up the coast, where he works to build relationship bridges, share God’s love, and link those in need to resources and referrals.  

He frequently visits the Aboriginal community of Yarrabah, where he is also negotiating the opening of a Salvos store in the town as an outreach point and to provide employment training. 

“Cairns is so diverse in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture,” Allen says. “Then over the hill you have Yarrabah that has 30 to 40 different Aboriginal groups because they were taken off their land and placed there in the past. In the communities we see some real struggle and pain – lots of unemployment, homelessness, addiction and mental illness.”   

While there are great challenges, Allen says he is also privileged to see great transformations. 

“I’m working with a man who has been fighting drugs and alcohol and homelessness. This man now has accommodation, he is currently in rehab and doing a Certificate Three in Alcohol Management with plans to become a social worker and help the homeless and those addicted to alcohol and drugs. I saw him the other day and he is on track and thanks the Lord every day!”

By Naomi Singlehurst