Regional Australians Are Feeling Lonely, But These Old Bastards Are Helping

Every Thursday night, John Abreu walks to the Gascoyne Hotel in Carnarvon, a small town in Western Australia, with his brother and daughter. They go to meet a group called the Old Bastards. The group gets together each week to chat, play games, share a drink, and raise money for their community. This kind of regular gathering is helping people in rural Australia feel less alone.

John's daughter Rena joined the group when she was just nine months old, making her the youngest Old Bastard in Carnarvon's history. That was 27 years ago, and she still attends the weekly meetups with her father. It shows just how much these gatherings mean to families in the area. For many locals, this group is more than just a fun night out — it is a real source of friendship and support.

Carnarvon is a remote coastal town, sitting about 500 kilometres from the city of Geraldton and 600 kilometres from Karratha. Jonathon Foster moved there six years ago and says the Old Bastards group became a true lifeline for him. He believes the town's isolation is actually part of what makes the group work so well. 'It's probably because of the isolation that it all works,' he says.

Research shows that more than half of all Australians feel lonely. The problem is even worse in rural and regional areas, far from big cities. Associate Professor Michelle Lim is one of Australia's top experts on loneliness. She runs an organisation called Ending Loneliness Together, which studies this issue and looks for ways to fix it.

Professor Lim says her group started surveying Australians in 2018 and found that rural areas are real hotspots for loneliness and social isolation. For a long time, many people did not take loneliness seriously, telling those who felt lonely to simply get over it. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and suddenly the world began to understand how painful isolation can be. Now more people agree that loneliness is a serious problem worth solving.

Loneliness is not just a sad feeling — it can seriously hurt your health. Scientists have found that being lonely can be as harmful to the body as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It can raise the risk of heart disease, depression, anxiety, and stroke. In 2023, the top health official in the United States called loneliness a public health crisis.

On the Gold Coast in Queensland, a government-funded program called Chatterbox is tackling loneliness in a different way. Chatterbox matches volunteers with older people living in aged care homes who don't get many visitors. Volunteer Darren Maughan joined after noticing how lonely many residents were at the facility where his mother-in-law lived. He saw people who rarely, if ever, had anyone come to visit them.

Darren now visits up to 10 people regularly, including a 95-year-old man named Cyril. The two started as strangers but have become real friends, talking about everything from Cyril's days working in Western Australia's gold mines to their families and daily lives. Cyril jokes that if they weren't friends, he'd ask Darren to leave. Their bond shows how powerful a simple visit can be.

Renee Brown coordinates the Chatterbox volunteers and says the benefits of visits can show up very quickly. Family members have noticed a brand-new spark in their loved ones after just a couple of friendly visits. Some residents who rarely left their rooms have started coming out more. Others simply feel happier knowing their friend is coming to see them.

Professor Lim says friendships between young people and older people are especially valuable. The two loneliest groups in Australia are people aged 18 to 25 and those aged 65 and over. Young people bring energy and fresh ideas, while older people offer wisdom and life experience. When these two groups connect, both sides benefit greatly — and communities like Carnarvon prove this every single week.