“I was born in a little town called Bingara. It’s about 50kms north of Tamworth. Dad was an Electrician, Mum was a house wife. There were six of us kids and we were Catholics.
I always loved drawing, always coloured in and I remember drawing an Aboriginal person when I was about 8 and thought it was a really good drawing. I did win a lot of art prizes. Dad was great with my love of art. He always gave me money to buy pencils and things I needed.
Mum was on the Council and introduced me to a couple of guys who were Psych nurses. I thought what they did was interesting. They were off to Morrisett Psychiatric Hospital and asked if I wanted to go along to check it out. I went along and thought I could work in that job. I finished Year 12 and at the age of 17 I decided to become a Psych Nurse. I started work the same day Triple J started in Sydney, January 1975. I moved into the nurses home in North Ryde and did 4 years of Psych Nursing and trained to be a Registered Nurse. Thirty of us started and only two of us finished. I stayed for a few years but decided to do general nursing.
I was heading home to Bingara for a break and called into Armidale Hospital to ask if they had training for nurses there. They saw me straight away on the Friday. The next day I got a call telling me I could start Monday. I walked into the ward, they threw the keys to me and said, ‘You’re in charge’. It was my first day and I didn’t even know what wards were where. I did my general training but whenever a patient was violent they would call me in because of my Psych training.
I met my husband while I was still nursing. I fell pregnant and we moved back to Bingara and bought a couple of acres, built a house and had another child. I started community nursing which I loved. I was transferring a man out of a chair to the shower and I hurt my back badly. That started a couple of years of treatment and I was told I would never go back to nursing. They were right, I never did. I had spinal fusion and spent 6 months in a plaster cast.
Meanwhile we moved to a farm. I looked after the cattle, sheared the sheep when my back wasn’t hurting, spun the wool and did natural dying. I was always doing art.
We moved into town as my husband got a job in Moree as a teacher. I got an admin job in a Saw mill. I worked there for a while and ended up owning the Saw mill. I learnt to swear and I learnt to identify timber. Eventually I got out of that through divorce. I was glad as it was sending me crazy.
I also did a degree in Communications externally through UNE. One of the subjects I covered was Aboriginal history. I discovered that years before there had been a massacre at Myall Creek near Bingara. 28 Aboriginal women, children and elderly men were killed at Myall Creek Station. They had been living there peacefully. The younger men were off cutting bark. A group of men led by a man called Fleming came around and slaughtered them all.
One of the units I did was a visual art unit on how to design a memorial. My husband was teaching Indigenous students in Moree so I got him to find out from the kids what would be good. I did a mile of research. I collected a huge amount of work from all over and I designed a memorial. I finished that unit with a high distinction and I approached the Lands Council about putting the memorial in place.
I received a fax that there was going to be a gathering at Myall Creek for a weekend of prayers. At the time I was working for the local paper so I offered to go out and write a story unpaid. I took out all my information as I thought we would build the memorial. I didn’t know the exact spot that the massacre had happened but we weren’t allowed on the land as the owner wouldn’t allow it. I had been out there many times on my own collecting leaves and bark and making dyes out of them.
Bill Bryson came to town and wanted to know if there was a memorial and he was told to come and speak to me. He interviewed me and that actually went in his book. We decided then to do the memorial. It was 1998 and the Memorial was dedicated June 10, 2000.
I learnt that the owner of the station where the massacre happened held a couple of the young boys back and their descendants were at the memorial. As time went on a man named Des Blake contacted me and said…My great, great grandfather was one of the murderers. He didn’t get charged but he took his own life out of guilt. The men who committed this crime were tracked down, taken to court and they got off. There was a public outcry and they were tried again. Seven of them were hung. Susie Blacklock who was one of the descendants of the boys who escaped came to the memorial and another lady who was one the descendants of Fleming arrived as well. We all watched her get out of her car and walk over to the old tin hall we were in. It was very emotional and we hugged.
We built the memorial on a travelling stock route. There are granite seats and beautiful signs made in a foundry drawn by Colin Isaacs. They were put onto plates and attached to the rock. It’s about 1.5 kms long on a path. It’s the rainbow serpent. At the end is a massive rock. The Rev John Brown and I found that rock about a week before the opening. It was put on a low loader and driven to the site. People leave beautiful notes there. One of the notes was a little piece of paper covered in sequins with ‘I’m so sorry’ in bright texta. It was by one of the kids I’d taught to read. I was on the committee for 9 years. I used to clean up, get grants, clean the toilets and whatever had to be done. I met Bob Carr and Hazel Hawke and lot’s of interesting people during those years.”