15 June 2015

Chappy Dave was a vital support after tragedy

Posted in Chaplaincy


An afternoon quickly turned to tragedy in Wujal Wujal, south of Cooktown, as a young girl was swept away in a flash flood. She was unable to be saved from the rushing water.

In the wake of the tragedy, Chaplain David Kamholtz has been helping the Wujal Wujal community heal.

“Flooding took its toll on our small community. The young girl of nine years, who lost her life, was a much-loved student at Bloomfield River State School. Being an Auxiliary Fireman, I was part of the retrieval team at the incident, so I was there to support family and friends,” says David.

“With only 500 people in the community, this has been the hardest and saddest time for me during my 10 years as a chaplain. We’ve worked together to help the family, cooking meals and co-ordinating the memorial service,” he says.

Chappy David worked alongside John Vaughan, a Senior Guidance Officer from the Department of Education and Training, who flew up to help.

“Remote services in schools can be limited, or at least the people who are on the ground can be. But David’s compassion and knowledge of the community was immediately apparent, as well as the respect the community had for him,” John says.

“David led a memorial service on the same day the incident happened as the pastor was not in town. It was a role only someone who had a deep connection with the community could play.”

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