Brad McEwan’s heartwarming workshop connects community through postcards

Mr McEwan, a former sports journalist, television presenter and radio host, engrossed the crowd with his mix of anecdotes and writing tips.

“The best piece of advice that I love to give people when it comes to particularly writing a postcard like this is to write from here (gesturing at his heart), not from here (pointing at his head),” he said.

“Someone might read it and think ‘that doesn’t make sense’, but it doesn’t matter.

“I know what it means, and the person receiving the postcard knows what it means.“

A brilliant storyteller, Mr McEwan drew on the many connections he had with the audience, personalising his stories to the delight of his neighbours, friends, and community in attendance.

“Sorry Mrs Watson, but don’t worry about your spelling, don’t worry about your punctuation,” he said.

He emphasised the importance of writing from each person’s unique point of view.

Mr McEwan asked attendees to embrace their individual stories, and use these to write their postcards.

“We are all different. Some people prefer a cup of coffee, some prefer a cup of tea ... that's the best thing about all of us,” he said.

“There’s no-one here in this room that has the same story. There's no-one on the planet that has the same story.

“We are all different, which is brilliant because it would be so boring if we were all the same.”

The postcard design was created by Jocelyn Proust, featuring two fairy wrens in the Australia Post and Beyond Blue shades of blue, red and white.

The postcards begin with ‘sending you this postcard because I care’, a message that guided Mr McEwan’s advice.

“Talk about kindness, and this is where Australia Post and Beyond Blue tie together so magnificently, to send a postcard is an act of kindness,” he said.

“If you’re sending anything, and it invokes an emotion, maybe it makes that person smile ... it’s nice to get something in the post that’s not a bill.

“It might make them laugh, it might make them cry. They will remember that forever.

“It’s not even about the particulars of writing. For me, it’s about where it comes from and ideas and motivation to write a postcard.”

The collaboration between Australia Post and Beyond Blue will deliver five million Connections Postcards across regional and rural Australia, including 1,001,942 in Victoria and 1,047,000 in NSW.

Mr McEwan gave credit to Beyond Blue, where he has been an ambassador for 14 years.

“Say it the way that you would say it; acting’s too hard,” he said.

“That’s what I love about the work that Beyond Blue does, we get to take the mask off and be who we really are. That’s an act of kindness.

“By taking the mask off, you are encouraging someone else to take the mask off. You are helping them, but you’re also helping you.”

At the end of the event, Mr McEwan reflected on the experience, and how the crowd engaged with his presentation.

“You could just see when people are being quiet, you know they're really tuned in,” he said.

“Towards the end when it was a chance for people to talk, we had laughs and stories and some poignant stories.”

The theme of the postcards; connection, resonated with Mr McEwan, which he believed the day encompassed.

“Sandwiches, cup of coffee, conversation, stories, laughter, honesty, authenticity, and I can wrap all that up with one word: connection,” he said.

Mr McEwan was grateful to host the event in his hometown, surrounded by familiar faces. He truly felt the theme of ‘connection’.

“Days like today are always special,” he said.

“Yes, the sun is shining. Yes the sandwiches and party pies were outstanding as they always are at a country spread, but the people in the room, I've known most of them almost my entire life.

“To have that connection, I find it hard to describe how that how much that means.

“I'm really grateful to have that.”