Wise - The Voice of older Western Australians

Juniper is proud to partner with one of Australia’s foremost portrait photographers, Steve Wise.

Steve’s national and internationally award-winning photographs delve past what is seen on the surface and explore who a person truly is – their past, their stories and their hopes for the future. Steve does this through connecting with his subject, yarning about life.

Each portrait was captured by Steve on his 1960’s Linhof Colour 4×5. This German-made large format bellows film camera, coupled with a 210mm f4.5 Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar lens, was able to capture the character and beauty of its subjects in exquisite detail. The resolving power of this large format lens, combined with each sheet of 4×5 inch film (15 times larger than a standard 35mm negative) produces images that are rich in tone and detail – allowing each negative to reveal its own story.

The Happiness Index demonstrates the resilience and adaptability of older Western Australians.

Older Western Australians scored a 67.9/100 rating on the Happiness Index, in the moderate range.

Maintaining independence and good health, relationships with family and friends, connection and a sense of community, and a sense of purpose that comes from helping others, is critical to wellbeing and happiness.

Declining health is one of the biggest barriers to happiness that comes with ageing – ill health or pain, mobility and tiredness being the largest contributors to stopping older Western Australians from doing
what makes them happy.

As people age, what impacts happiness changes.

3 in 5 Western Australians in their 70s are seeing their family as much as they would like. This drops to 2 in 5 for those aged 80 and over.

About half of older Western Australians are not exercising as much as they would like, rising to 3 in 5 for those in their 80s.

Only half of the participants in their 70’s we’re extremely happy with their mental health, jumping up to 2 in 3 in their 80s.

The World Health Organisation and the Australian Human Rights Commission have made the case for urgent action to address disturbing levels of acceptance of age-related prejudice. This year the
WA Government released a campaign to highlight ageism, positive ageing and age-positive language and attitudes.

Ageism results in poor physical and mental health outcomes. It includes lack of respect, being ignored, overlooked for work opportunities, denied promotion, receiving poor customer service and exclusion from service and insurance and pressure to accept a poor health outcome.

Grateful, relaxed, experienced. Older Western Australians are happy with their lives, expressing gratitude and appreciation.

However, their optimism is partially offset by anxiety about the welfare of future generations, the prevalence of violence around the globe, on television and computer screens, and the fear of losing their independence.

Older Western Australians fear the prospect of losing friends or loved ones (48%); not being able to stay in their own home (41%); and becoming a burden on those around them (33%).