Early Life

I was born in Warren and we lived out on a property in tents. We lived in tents because my family travelled around on the road all the time with sheep and cattle. My father was a drover. I had on brother and five sisters and I was the eldest. I never went to school because we had to work with mum and dad on the road.

We used to go rabbiting. Mum used to hunt porcupine, kangaroo and emu. Se was the one who hunted because Dad was white and he didn’t know how. We got other food from town.

All day, we all rode horses along the road with the cattle and sheep. I did that until I was about 16, I was happy with that life then but I feel now I missed out on a lot – school.

I went to work at 15 in Nyngan and we lived there then. Dad worked for the ‘Red Scheme’. I worked in the Café as a waitress until I got married at 23. We stayed in Nyngan for a while and then moved to Coonamble. I had a child Spencer. We got divorced then. Later on I had Cheryl.

Community Work and Later Life

I started helping at the Day Care Centre when Cheryl was about three – about 20 years ago. I would get all the old people their morning tea, set the table and help them with their craft. I went to TAFE then to do Literacy. I started with Val Waterford learning to read and write and then into the night course with Narelle Lloyd.

Others told me that I should stay in the background and that white people were better then me. However I know that’s not right now and I branched out into working for the Church, the Pre-school and the Child Care Centre. I then started doing my Child Care Certificate through OTEN and I have competed three years with one more to go.

Later I met my just ex-husband, I saved for my wedding for months and the big event went off well. I think that it was a waste of time though. Six months after the wedding he decided to go and left me with his two children, Sonya, 8 and Douglas, 13, both with learning difficulties. He went to the pub and never came home.

I am still at TAFE doing reading and writing for Adults, and sewing, I work at the CDEP, sewing and cleaning.

I like Coonamble and I’ll stay here now forever. Cheryl and Spencer have jobs here and we are all happy.