Marg –
“We got to my parents and I introduced Bob. We had dinner and I said, I think I’m feeling very tired now and might go to bed. I go to bed and Bob’s left there to tell them the news that we were getting married. I could hear it through the wall. At the end of it my Dad said, Good show mate, we better have a beer. I decided I wasn’t so tired so I came back out (laughs). We married in the August of 1973. Mum and Dad moved to Gulgong and lived next door in a house that Dad built which was good for the time. Bob’s Mum had always said, Go to Australia but don’t you get married over there.
I had two babies pretty early in our marriage, Katie and Angie and while I was off on maternity leave a Canadian teacher filled in for me. The Principal said he was doing a good job when I returned and gave me a nudge to go for the new position of teacher Librarian and because I’d just come back and because I had little babies and Ag was hard and you had to be on it, I took the position.
It was tough for a girl who was told she couldn’t wear pants to work and I had to fight those battles on my own. The NSW Teacher’s Federation had the first women’s conference in 1975 which was when my Katie was born. The conference was amazing for me to suddenly have a sisterhood. In Gulgong, I had gone to the RSL club in a beautiful pink crepe pantsuit with a lace collar and tight bell bottoms. I felt a million dollars. I got to the door and the doorman said, You can’t come here in that. Our Holden car was parked outside so in front of this guy I walked over, undid the back door, undid the zipper, flicked the pants onto the back seat and walked back to the club. I said, Am I morally decent now? He said yes and in I went in my top which just covered my undies.
At that same club I went down one Friday arvo to meet Dad. He was in work clothes and I had school clothes on. The club had a women’s lounge, a public bar and a little working men’s bar. At 4pm… Ding! Women were no longer able to sit in the public bar, men in work clothes weren’t allowed in the ladies lounge unless they were dressed nicely and Dad and I were told to leave. Dad said, I didn’t fight in the second world war to put up with this bullshit. I said, Come on Dad we’ll go to the working person’s bar which was like a man-cave. The bar maid said, You can’t do that, I’m getting the Manager. The Manager comes out and says…Get out, you two are banned from this club. Dad said, That’s all right Jack, the next time I come in here mate is when you die and that’s only if they put a keg on. Mum was mortified. She said, How can I ever show my face in town again?
The Union awakened me to social justice issues, Aboriginal issues, women’s issues, LGBTI issues and it was amazing. That sense of community and that sense through the Union movement of every cog in the wheel having an important function is fundamental to what we believe. If you totally lift the bottom people up and everybody gets looked after, it creates a good community. All of the things we’ve done reflect that.
Bentley (Anti CSG) came just after I retired. That was such an amazing experience for the whole Northern Rivers community. The way it melded people together and bought the diversity of the region together, the lock ons, the Knitting Nannas, the farmers, the business community, the Indigenous, it changed Lismore. Some of the Police were coming out on their days off and supporting. It was a couple of years of constant involvement for us.
We had a big meeting here in Kyogle where people could forward ideas of projects that everybody could support. The person who won it suggested a Labyrinth in Kyogle. The lady who thought of it was Harmony and sadly she died last year. We worked on it for a couple of years. A lot of the people were elderly and they’ve passed or moved so we need people to help look after it. It has mosaics in it and so many people in the community have done artwork or signed the pavers. We got Grants so the Aboriginal families could get involved, the aged community, the pre-schools, everyone. That took a lot of time but sadly we really do need more help to maintain it. It’s probably Kyogle’s main tourist attraction. That took a lot of time and then we had the Yes campaign. I interviewed Kerrie O’Brien here but that wasn’t enough. That result was devastating.
I got shingles in November last year and I still have it so that’s knocked me around but we keep busy in our retirement. I love doing pottery and lead lighting and other arty things. I’ve made Mandalas for all the kids.
Our daughter Angie who said she’s never come back to Kyogle now lives around the corner with her two children. She works with the Friends of the Koala in Lismore and she’s an Environmental Scientist. We have 6 grandkids now which is wonderful.”