Regional Australians are feeling lonely, but these Old Bastards are helping

Every Thursday night, John Abreu heads down to the Gascoyne Hotel in Carnarvon in Western Australia with his brother and daughter for the gathering of the Old Bastards.   

The group catch up weekly to have a yarn, a drink, play games and fundraise for their community.  

“Rena, my daughter, she registered as an Old Bastard 27 years ago,” he says.   

“She was nine months old. She was the youngest Old Bastard in Carnarvon.”  

Recent research has found more than half of Australians suffer from loneliness. The number is even higher in regional Australia and groups like the Old Bastards are combating this by offering a way to get together regularly.

The gathering has become a lifeline for locals like Jonathon Foster, who first moved to the isolated coastal town six years ago.  

“You don't see it too often in a lot of other places,” he says.  

“I didn't feel connected until we met these guys and they just put their arms out and welcomed us into the town. 

“We’re 500 kilometres from Geraldton and 600 from Karratha. 

“It’s probably because of the isolation that it all works.” 

The Old Bastards is just one of many small community groups in the outback, doing a lot of the heavy work when it comes to addressing isolation in regional Australia, says leading loneliness expert Associate Professor Michelle Lim.   

She is the chief executive of Ending Loneliness Together, Australia’s peak body focused on addressing loneliness and social isolation. 

“I think that there's not enough research in this area, but what we do know is the prevalence is significantly higher for both loneliness and social isolation in regional and rural communities,” she says.  

"What people living in those communities are telling us is that there is a lack of infrastructure and investment in spaces, in programs."

Ending Loneliness Together began surveying Australians in 2018 and its recent report found regional and rural Australia is an isolation hotspot.  

“Anecdotally, when we were talking about loneliness, people were concerned but they didn't have empathy as to why someone could feel lonely,” Associate Professor Lim says.  

“And in fact, if anything, I think we caught a lot of criticism and a lot of people would say just get over it, you live and this is just part of life. 

"And then COVID happened.” 

In 2023, the United States Surgeon General sounded the alarm on the harms caused by isolation, declaring it a public health issue at epidemic proportions. 

The statistics surrounding the impact of loneliness on health is stark. In terms of mortality alone, it can impact a person's longevity as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. 

When people feel like they are shouldering life's burdens alone it can lead to all sorts of health complications like heart disease, depression and anxiety, and increased risk of stroke.   

On the Gold Coast in Queensland, the Aged Care Volunteer Visitors Scheme — affectionately known as Chatterbox — is a government-funded program that tackles this problem by matchmaking volunteers with older people who would otherwise miss out on human connection and companionship.  

Darren Maughan became a volunteer because of what he observed when visiting his late mother-in-law at the Ashmore Gardens Care Community. 

“I saw the loneliness and the isolation of other residents there, a lot of people that I never saw with a visitor,” he said.  

“Some you'd see with a family member that might come in once a month for a couple of hours. 

"I could see the physical and mental decline on these people while they were sitting there."

Mr Maughan is a Chatterbox volunteer and has had up to 10 people on his roster, including 95-year-old Cyril.  

They may have started off as strangers, but now they enjoy shooting the breeze about anything from Cyril's days working on the WA gold mines to their families. 

"You can't sort of sit down with somebody for a couple of hours once a week and not be friends,” Cyril says.  

"I mean, if we weren't friends, I'd ask him to leave!” 

Renee Brown coordinates the Chatterbox volunteers, and says the health impacts of visits can often be immediate.  

“Family members have come back and said they've noticed a brand-new spark in family members from having just a couple of visits with their friend,” she says.  

“So those who've visited someone in a residential aged care facility as well, they've noticed that they like to come out of their room a bit more. 

"Or if not, they're really, happy and they're like I know my friend is coming to visit me today.” 

Professor Lim said friendship between generations is important because both ends of life experience have a lot to offer each other.  

“I actually think that we don't do intergenerational friendships enough,” she says. 

“The two loneliest cohorts in Australia, are the 18 to 25 years and then the 65 and over. 

“Young people have energy and new ideas and enthusiasm and they're real advocates for life. 

"And then you have all the people who carry this wisdom, mentorship, life experience. And those two cohorts really can benefit so greatly from each other.” 

This sentiment is echoed in Carnarvon where inter-generational friendships are the norm.  

“Old people can talk about experiences and how they've grown through their life, whether it be financial, family planning,” Mr Foster says.  

“We've got a wide opinion, whether they listen to it or not. But young people can talk to us about technology, obviously. 

"They just seem to have a really, good rapport between the youth and the seniors and they love it all when they come here. 

"It’s just part and parcel of what the town does I think.” 

This article came out of the ABC survey Your Say where regional audiences said loneliness was a key issue for them.