Dale Abbey
| Type of person | Individual |
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"I could always be found in the art room at school..."
Abbey grew up in Gawler East and went to Immanuel Gawler and Xavier College South Australia . She really enjoyed art, drama and excelled at Agriculture. "I probably spent more time at the Rec Centre than I did at home...."
Abbey started roller skating mostly as a hobby in year one (2011) skating mostly on Saturdays and this quickly grew into at least 3 or 4 days of training a week, and joining the Gawler Skating Club. Abbey competes in artistic roller skating, where there are 3 main categories: figures, free skate, and free dance. She competes with free dance (being the only one in SA!) as well as occasionally figures and describes artistic roller skating as, "A whirlwind" no pun intended I'm sure. You can imagine artistic roller skating as literally ice skating with all wheels and no ice. Being taught by Anne Mcgonigal has lead to Abbey also being a coach. Since she is one of the only people in SA competing in this category of skating, she has developed her own style and almost has to teach herself. When she isn't here in Gawler, training with Gawler Skating Club, or working at the Gawler Sport and Community Centre, she works at Skate Society and teaches skating at Campbelltown.
During her time skating Abbey became friends with Debbie who is the Youth Development officer at Town Of Gawler. She went from being involved in the youth programs to now supervising youth programs. Drama, band, arts, and media, she's even become deputy of the Youth Advisory Committee. She really seems to have done it all. Taking on more of a senior role can seem a bit stressful, but she is always there to help the younger kids and the older kids, and bridge that gap between being a 12 year old, and being an 18 year old. It could sometimes be difficult, being 18 and supervising youth barely younger than herself, however she wouldn't change it for the world. "It started when I was really young, I found an injured pigeon and I said, "FIX IT!!"" Abbey has volunteered at Barossa Wildlife Rescue for 7 years now. It did all start with a pigeon. She became great friends with BWR owner Rose after she would bring injured birds in asking Rose to, "fix" them. When she turned 13, Abbey was asked if she would like to volunteer on weekends so she started doing feed ups with the permanent animal residents there, and is now involved with both small rescues, such as birds, and possums, and large animal rescues, such as large kangaroo's. She works to rescue, rehabilitate and release these animals, however she does euthanize where necessary. She also checks the pouches of deceased animals for young in their pouches, as well as tagging the deceased animals as well. She does this primarily with Australian wildlife, not domestic animals.
"It's always fun being up there..." Not one to shy away from the stage Abbey has been involved with the Gawler Youth Band taking on teachings from the legendary Crafty Music Man performing with the band, and as a solo guitar player. Her love for music also helps with her skating, as she has worked for years on her kinesthetic response in regards to music, allowing her to deeply analyse the music, and what audio triggers she can use in her favour, for the artistic impression in her routines. Starting the drama program with Gawler Youth, has lead to Abbey undertaking acting at AC arts, and doing some workshops with amazing actors and directors. Through this, as well as working with Mikala Wood, has lead to Abbey dedicating her time to writing her first ever one-person show, which is being performed for the Adelaide Fringe, called 'Welcome to the Internet'. Luckily for Abbey, she had made some amazing connections with actors, and has some amazing artistic friends, who have previously done Fringe shows, either acting, or music. When the Fringe came up in conversation Abbey expressed how she had always wanted to do a Fringe Show and from there it was a done deal as her friends said, "right you're doing one next year!" Abbey has created this show in order to push the boundaries between the audience and the actor, and to convey a strong message to the audience, about how strange the internet can be, and how much society depends on their devices. And it all kicks off this month!
First shared on Gawler in Photographs ‘Humans of Gawler’ series 14 February 2024.
Photographs by Daniel James Down. Please click here to visit the Gawler in Photographs Facebook page.
Gawler History Team Inc thanks Daniel James Down (Gawler in Photographs) and the subjects of ‘Humans of Gawler’ for allowing us to preserve their profiles and photographs for future generations of Gawlerites to enjoy.
Please click here to view photos of Abbey Dale
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