Christmas toys bring cheer to outback kids

2 December 2020

Sergeant Vaughan and Deslie Collins accepted toys for the town’s children.

Words Darryl Whitecross

Christmas for the tiny outback Queensland town of Thargomindah will be a little brighter again this year, thanks to the Salvos.

Major Mark Bulow, chaplain for the Salvos Flying and Rural Services in South Queensland, recently dropped into the town’s police station, with his four-wheel-drive ute loaded with toys for the town’s children.

He handed the toys to the local policeman, Sergeant Vaughan Collins, and his wife, Deslie, who gladly accepted them.

Deslie said the donation would put a smile on the many faces who had been doing it tough over the past eight years when crippling drought had gripped the state.

“Every year for as long as I have been in Thargomindah [since 2010], The Salvation Army has travelled the distance delivering gifts to let this little town, in the middle of nowhere, know that they are not forgotten,” she says.

Deslie shared that, most years, the Salvos also come to Thargomindah with a brass band leading up to Christmas.

“The community would come together to see the band and hear all about Christmas from Mark and his crew,” she says.

“One of the greatest gifts his visit brought to the community was the message that Christmas was for all people and not just for little children waiting for an imaginary man in a red suit.”

For the past two years, the Salvos have been unable to do the annual pilgrimage to Thargomindah for their Christmas visit, so the town had to rely on its own resources.

We decided that it was time to get the community into gear and make sure that what the Salvos had brought to us was not lost,” says Deslie. “Now that COVID-19 is preventing them from coming again, we know that we can still carry on.”

Thargomindah will again host an outdoor Christmas Carols by Glowsticks event this year, and donated toys from the Salvos will be given out.

“We aim to make sure that the children know that Christmas doesn’t just stop when you stop getting presents from Santa, but that giving to others is showing someone that we are here and we love them.”

Despite being unable to bring his Christmas crew out for the past two years, Mark has still organised gifts for the children through the Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal.