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Four decades ago, Gary Foley was one of a handful of activists who established the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawns of the Australian Parliament in a bid to wake up the country to its treatment of First Nations people.
From that time Foley’s mantra has always focused on Aboriginal rights but recently he’s added a new call, “don’t smoke.”
“I wanna encourage all blackfellas in Australia to stop smoking,” says the 63-year-old campaigner who underwent life-saving surgery after a heart attack last year.
A columnist for Tracker Magazine, Foley wrote about his ordeal. Read more here.
“I realised that virtually all of my closest friends, some of the greatest Aboriginal leaders of all time, just about everyone I’ve lost in the last 30 years were to smoking-related illnesses,” he said.
Foley thought he had beaten the odds when he stopped drinking and began cycling to improve his health when he turned 40.
It dawned on him after surviving the heart attack he should have given up the cigarettes as well.
“You know, I was riding a push bike for 20km’s from the time I turned 40 and because I was smoking and because my diet wasn’t 100 per cent or as good as it should’ve been I nearly died. That gave me a big shock mate you know.”
When it comes to encouraging others to quit smoking, Foley doesn’t mince words.
“If you’re a smoker, do yourself, do your family, do your kids a favour - don’t die in front of your kid.
“Don’t make your mates go to your funeral or go to an oxygen tent like I’ve done to a few of my mates.
“It’s not only about you, it’s about us.”
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Image source: nationalunitygovernment.org
 
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