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Meet the Flinders Street Station rough sleepers

Beau Donelly

The homeless camp outside Flinders Street Station has been the subject of growing attention this week.

These are some of the rough sleepers who are staying there.

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Police crackdown on city homeless camps

Police move into a homeless camp outside Flinders Street station as more and more people flock to the busy intersection ahead of the Australian Open.

Jonathan 'Link' Hardy

Jonathan 'Link' Hardy Photo: Beau Donelly

Jonathan 'Link' Hardy

Link is a wrestler from Safety Bay in Perth. He has travelled around Australia and overseas, including to the US, to compete in WWE-style tournaments.

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The 28-year-old is also profoundly deaf and has been living on the streets for four years. He started sleeping outside Flinders Street Station just before Christmas.

None of his friends use sign language so he writes down the answers to questions. He says he has had a lot of trouble with the police recently.

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They hassle him, try to move him on, he claims. There is a hand-written sign taped to the wall above where he sleeps, next to a jar of peanut butter, can of deodorant and a book, titled Steps to Christ.

It says: "I hate drugs and I love go gym and eat a lot. I always look after myself. I am always hungry. I keep going and look for job so you can ask me about job."

Link spoke to The Age last year about a new initiative offering homeless people showers in the back of a bus.

Jason

Jason is wearing a black beanie and sits on a crate away from the rest of the group. He doesn't maintain eye contact, instead looking down to his hands as he fiddles with his sunglasses.

The 43-year-old was living in a caravan park in Campbellfield, but lost his job as a sheet metal worker just before Christmas. The next day he crashed his car and ended up in hospital.

"They just put me off," he says. "And then I was doing something I shouldn't have at my age; drinking and racing."

Jason moved to the station at the end of November. This is the first time he has lived on the streets.

He says he doesn't have a choice because he is still waiting for his Newstart application to be processed by Centrelink. People have been kind to him.

They give him money and food and clothes. But it's not enough to get back on his feet.

Until his welfare payments come through, he says he can't make plans for the future.

"I'll just stay here," Jason says. "I can't leave here because I get some money, and there's lights. I can't go down a laneway because it's too dangerous."

Kirsty

Kirsty. Photo: Beau Donelly

Kirsty

Kirsty is pissed off with the media. She's the young woman with a small frame who has had her picture plastered across newspapers and websites this week.

In the photos she is carrying and smoking a bong.

Kirsty, known affectionately to her friends as "Crazy", doesn't want to talk about her life or what brought her to sleep outside Melbourne's most recognisable railway station.

All she will say is that she has been sleeping here for three or four weeks. Before that, the 21-year-old says, she was living in a squat in Geelong.

Glen and Tonka

Glen and Tonka Photo: Beau Donelly

Glen and Tonka

Glen and his dog Tonka were living in a park in the eastern suburbs until they were kicked out by the council.

"We just got off the train and were planning our next move," the 32-year-old says as he searches for his wallet among a sea of blankets.

"That was a couple of months ago now." Glen is on a disability pension and can't work.

He wants to move into a private rental but without a car or a job – and with a big dog to look after – he finds it hard to lock down somewhere permanent to live.

"We walk everywhere now so I can't always inspect places," he says.

"Anyway, it's that f---ing expensive to rent in Melbourne I'm starting to think it's not even worth having a box to keep your shit."

Ruski

Ruski Photo: Beau Donelly

Ruski

Ruski says he was born in Russia but sent to South Australia by his parents to live with his grandparents when he was seven.

He moved to Melbourne eight months ago because he could not find work in Adelaide. The 21-year-old roofer has not found a job here either and has been homeless since he arrived.

"People said I would have a better chance in Melbourne, but I hand out my resume and get nothing," Ruski says.

"I'll do anything, even clean toilets."

Ruski was staying on Bourke Street, near the Salvation Army, but started camping out at the station about two months ago. He's angry at the Salvos and claims they don't support people like him.

The reason he stays on busy Flinders Street is because of the good friends he has made. It's also safer than some other homeless spots in the city.

"In other places when you're alone people come and kick your stuff and call you a homeless bum," Ruski says.

Tyson Daymond

Tyson Daymond Photo: Beau Donelly

Tyson Daymond

Tyson does not sleep at Flinders Street Station, he comes to see his friends. He's been homeless on Melbourne's streets for about three years and used to sleep in Hosier Lane.

The Age interviewed Tyson in August last year about the prospect of CCTV being installed in the laneway amid increasing reports of violence and crime.

These days, he sleeps on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral on Swanston Street.

Tyson says he ended up on the street because he had a problem with alcohol.

"I lost my girlfriend and everything," the 23-year-old says, "I don't drink no more."

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