By Mikayla van Loon
He’s Belgrave’s very own urban legend but the man behind the clothes is just that, a man who has lived an extraordinary life.
At 92 years old, celebrating a birthday with friends and strangers on Friday 22 October, Baba Desi is humble and generous but hasn’t lost the fire inside him to fight for what is right.
“I believe in good things for Australia and Australian people,” he said.
“I’ve done a lot for people around the streets which I do because I believe in humanity, I believe in love of humanity.”
As an activist, Des has spent his life protesting and drawing attention to the issues that matter.
Seeing Des cloaked in colour, carrying a staff, he is hard to miss but he chooses to dress as he does to draw attention to himself so then he can draw attention to the issues of the world.
Even though time has passed, Des said those issues still remain, particularly the overtaking of small business by corporations.
Pauline Klemm has been documenting Des’s life through photographs for nearly a year and from that, a beautiful friendship sprouted.
“I just put up things about his life just to let people know the man behind the public figure,” she said.
“It’s very obvious that they’re very strong feelings of protection towards Des in the local community, they are very protective of him.”
Originally from Warrnambool, Des said he loves this part of the world because of the trees and they are the lifeblood of the Hills.
“We’ve got trees and the trees protect us from all this, they give us our oxygen, they protect us in every way. I don’t like to see them come down because they do all of this for us and we don’t appreciate it,” he said.
For so many years Des has walked the streets of Belgrave, Tecoma, Upwey and Olinda, it’s hard not to know who the ‘Belgrave Wizard’ is.
Pauline said Des triggers memories of childhood for a lot of people and Des, even at 92 years of age, continues to walk three to four kilometres a day from Belgrave to Tecoma.
As a nurse, Pauline has seen many 92 year olds in her time but she said it’s not very often they are as healthy as Des.
Sitting at the coffee table on the Main Street of Belgrave, basking in the sunshine, Des still managed to say hello and wish passersby a good day.
“It’s the way he makes people feel, it’s the way he greets them, he’s always happy and it’s just the way he treats people,” Pauline said.
When asked to describe Des in one word, Pauline said he is passionate without a doubt.
“He’s passionate about his community. He doesn’t have a lot of contact with his family so the community up here is really his family.
“He’s very passionate about the local community, especially about small business and the effect globalisation and corporations have.
“He is very big on speaking your mind for the individual but together, we can come together and make a difference. Standing up for your rights, standing up for yourself.”
