Renowned Melbourne youth worker Les Twentyman is being remembered as a voice for the voiceless after news of his death emerged this week.
The OAM recipient and Victorian of the Year passed away, aged 76.
Raised in Melbourne’s west, Twentyman was one of Victoria’s best known social campaigners on issues ranging from homelessness, drug abuse, prison reform, and social welfare.
The news of Twentyman’s death came as a shock to the CEO of his foundation, Paul Burke.
“He’s a legend and what was interesting is the number of people that approached him and said to him that you changed my life when I was young,” Burke told Today.
“In Melbourne he’s a legend, especially across the western suburbs, which is where he concentrated his work.
“There’s not many people that wouldn’t know him.”
Twentyman was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1994, was a finalist for Australian of the Year in 2004, and was named Victorian of the Year in 2006.
At the time of his death, he was reportedly in the middle of working on a documentary about his life.
Burke said Twentyman left an incredible legacy behind that levelled the playing field for disadvantaged youth in Melbourne’s west.
“He was a social justice warrior,” he said.
”They didn’t have the same opportunities and so he set out to change it. And to do that he ruffled feathers, he upset people but there was a reason for everything that he did.
“His focus was on improving the lives of young people, keeping them out of the juvenile justice system, keeping them in school.”
