Sunday Night this week has a story on a mining battle and no Gina Rinehart isn’t involved. The show also looks at a new technique to battle Alzheimer’s.
Olivia Mead
It’s a high stakes family wrangle over a mighty iron ore fortune made in the Pilbara. And no, it’s not the bitter feud involving Gina Rinehart and the Hancock billions. It’s the untold story from the other side of the Hancock partnership. The story of the teenage kid, neglected by her mega-rich dad, raised by a single mum and who’s been forced to fight for her rightful share of the giant estate. Olivia Mead is 19, drives a battered old car and works at a supermarket checkout. She’s also the daughter of a billionaire, the late Michael Wright who became one of Australia’s richest men thanks to the efforts of his own father Peter Wright, Lang Hancock’s sidekick in the massive and legendary Pilbara iron ore discoveries. Just as Gina Rinehart has been locked in a bitter feud with her own children over their entitlement to billions of dollars, another courtroom drama has been playing out involving the Wright family fortune. It’s pitted a skint but determined young woman against the might of an extraordinarily wealthy family. This is the exclusive story of how Olivia Mead – neglected by her father – fought, won but still continues to fight for the respect she deserves and that part of the Wright fortune she’s due.
For Young and Old
It’s one of the most remarkable and heart-warming transformations we’ve ever filmed – when the very old meet the very young, fading memories, fractured concentration and the terrible mental dislocation of Alzheimer’s and dementia simply leave the room. And the success of this simple interaction may change the way the world deals with degenerative elderly illnesses. Sunday Night has travelled to Seattle in the US, to see firsthand the delightful consequences of this joyful experiment bringing the different generations together to slow or halt – even for a short time – the debilitating effects of Alzheimer’s and dementia. At Providence Mount St Vincent, the Intergenerational Learning Centre houses a nursing home and a pre-school, where the children receive care and attention from the elderly – and the elderly feel a renewed sense of worth. But there’s a more magical payoff – the residents experience profound relief from their symptoms. Five days a week, the children and residents come together in a variety of planned activities such as music, dancing, art, lunch, storytelling or just visiting. Denham Hitchcock meets some of the residents of The Mount including the spry 102-year-old George, and Dorothy, an Alzheimer’s sufferer whose life has been transformed. It’s an unmissable and deeply moving Sunday Night special report.
Sunday at 8.15pm on Seven.