Hiking to Help Young Migrants and Refugees Discover Their New Home
Photo provided by First Hike Project
By Hudson Brown
Where better to introduce people to Australia than in the wilderness? That’s the idea behind First Hike Project – a not-for-profit organisation that sees a peaceful stroll as the perfect way to help young people from refugee and new migrant backgrounds connect with their new community.
Making Australia more welcoming to refugees and new migrants doesn’t stop when their basic needs are covered. It extends to feeling invited into the local community and culture, like our favourite recreational pastimes.
But with many ethnic minorities experiencing exclusion from outdoor activities for reasons ranging from the cost of equipment to the lack of public transport, sometimes a helping hand is required to kickstart this relationship.
As founder of First Hike Project, Neil McCullough’s passion for the outdoors and willingness to share it has helped a new generation of people feel at home in Australia. Launched in 2015, his not-for-profit organisation takes teenagers and young adults from refugee and migrant backgrounds on an all-expenses-paid maiden hike into the bush, helping them connect with their new community and surroundings.
Photo provided by First Hike Project
Born in Scotland and raised in apartheid-era South Africa, McCullough was lucky to have travel as an option when looking to escape the country.
Faced with the prospect of mandatory military service under a white supremacist government - or enrollment in a university degree he wasn’t prepared for - he spent a self-described “gap decade” traveling across the Americas, Europe and Africa before emigrating to Australia in 2004.
“I never bought a guidebook and I never had a map…so I was often a deer in the headlights needing someone’s help,” McCullough says, recalling times when kind strangers gave him a place to stay or pointed him in the right direction.
“Now, meeting people from refugee backgrounds, I see how much impact you have on someone’s settlement by doing that for them.”
Coming from a background in construction, McCullough says he knew little about nonprofits when he began this journey. But after meeting the duo behind the First Home Project – a Perth-based community housing initiative that eased settlement for newly arrived refugee families – he figured sharing his love for the outdoors could make a foreign place easier to understand.
However, this one-time idea soon became something much bigger.
After sending the idea “out into the ether,” a teacher working in an Intensive English Centre – where newly arrived students take accelerated language classes – happily connected McCullough with his first cohort of hikers.
Today, trusting relationships with similar schools across the country remain the primary way First Hike Project engages young people seeking community and adventure.
“Contrary to what some might think, these people are often riding the crest of the wave by the time they get here,” Neil says, explaining how First Hike Project’s sponsors provide all the food, transport and equipment needed to take part.
“I just think that any number of new relationships, even if it's just one connection, helps you to feel more like you.”
Photo provided by First Hike Project
Soon attracting support from local government and private grants, First Hike Project expanded its efforts to Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland in 2018. While McCullough still oversees from a distance, he says giving ownership to volunteers in each state was crucial for strengthening the organisation’s mission.
Outside a few obligations, like guides holding a Working with Children Check, each distinct group curates its hiking experiences.
“To be honest, I didn't know what made a community. I didn't realise what I was doing would last beyond a season,” he says.
“The volunteers give everything: their time, their effort, their expertise. We’re just a conduit for putting two groups together – empathetic people who know how to do something, and those who want to try but aren’t sure how to do it themselves.”
With day hikes and overnight camping trips routinely departing from several capital cities, hundreds of new arrivals have been introduced to stunning landscapes, from the Blue Mountains to Mount Cooke.
More recently, First Hike Project has tackled complex multi-day trips, such as Tasmania’s Overland Track. Yet, no matter the distance covered, the desire to create communal bonds remains the same.
“We want to get out of the way and let the participants create relationships; the students might be classmates but just haven’t had the chance to find out what they have in common,” he adds.
“We see a lot of past participants make friends with each other…and sometimes you see them going back to the same places but with their families.”
Photo provided by First Hike Project
Now, First Hike Project is moving into its next phase through what it calls the ‘Participant-to-Guide Course’. Here, hikers eager to learn more about exploring the outdoors are invited to complete a hands-on training program.
Designed to teach students how to guide themselves and others safely in the wilderness, it fosters career prospects and opportunities for further education.
“The ultimate goal, in the back of my mind, is to hand over the reins to someone who has come through the [immigration] system or from a refugee background,” McCullough explains.
“This should be, and could be, run by someone from the group it’s aimed at.”
Still motivated by his love of hiking, McCullough has stayed focused on First Hike Project's original goal. Although his organisation has received substantial support from companies like Jetstar, The North Face and Wild Earth over the years, he has consciously avoided giving the organisation “a mandate to grow.”
Instead, he says helping new arrivals feel more at home is more than enough reward. “We live in a world that's all growth, growth, growth – it drives me nuts,” he says.
“We could stay this way forever and be super happy with it. Or we could go international and hopefully be super happy with that too. First Hike Project exists for a purpose and the purpose isn't us.”