“I was born in 1940 at home in Dee Why. Mum didn’t go to hospital till after the birth. Two years before I was born my brother was killed by a tram. Trams were running back then from Narrabeen to Manly Wharf. He was 7 years old.
My father was showing signs of cancer of the face at that time and my mum had Tuberculosis. Mum was nursing my father and it dragged her down. My father died in 1941 and my mother got really sick. She was admitted into a Sanitarium and my 3 older sisters and I were put into Dalmar Children’s Home. I was one year old. They were trying to get me adopted as blonde, blue eyed children were wanted but Mum said she would rather keep the family together. Mum and I lived together in a housing commission in Narraweena when she got out. We stayed there for a few months until she was able to get the girls out as well.
That lasted till I was about 10 and again Mum was admitted to the Sanitarium. We moved to an Aunts at Hornsby where we lived until I was 12. By then my sisters were old enough to look after me and the house. I ended up getting a job when I was 15 with the PMG and they gave me a traineeship. In the second year I joined the radio section. ABC used to use us to do their technical work. At 18 they sent me up here to the North Coast where I’ve pretty much stayed. I have moved from town to town up here but kept my base at Narraweena .
Mum passed away and I stayed on the North Coast. I stayed with PMG till I was 40. Over that time I married and had 2 children. Unfortunately the marriage ended. I was doing shift work and my wife took the children to Coonabarabran. They did end up coming back but we my wife and I didn’t reconcile. My children were back and forward but they did a lot of their schooling here. They went to Uni in Brisbane and I moved to Brisbane to be close to them. I returned to Lismore when they had their jobs. Karen married and became a school teacher out at Mt Isa. My youngest Susan, did very well at Uni and joined the United Nations. At the moment she is Associate Professor at Griffith University. She was acting Dean for a while there and has 2 children. Four years ago Karen passed away sadly from an aneurism. She left behind a daughter.
I did a few jobs after I took a payout from PMG. I ended up working as a radio technician in a hospital but Injured myself and I retired in 2005. I was in a caravan park in my own caravan. I was happy living there and when I was old enough for the pension I could apply for social housing. If you lived in a caravan park you were more or less considered homeless. I was offered a unit which offered me stability. The rent was a percentage of your income which makes it easier.
North Coast Community Housing were my provider when I first got my unit and I met a lady called Kate De Marco who said …’We have a Tenant Council and you are just the person we need to be on it so I joined. After a while it became my passion to be running around being a tenant rep. Tenant Councils are unique to the North Coast. They act as an intermediary between the provider and the tenants. We tell them what we think tenants want and need. We are like a sounding board. It keeps me busy and social.
I went back To Dee Why just to check out the joint and I couldn’t get out of there quick enough. Mum never really recovered from The Tuberculosis with the respiratory problems but she lasted long enough to see us all grow up. We had to have X-rays regularly when we were growing up in case we caught it off her. None of us got it. Dad had fair skin and would never wear a hat. He ended up with all his face eaten away so he just gave up. Mum was able to buy the Narraweena home we lived in for 300 pound. There was a scheme the Government had which helped people buy a house. It was just a shell like most homes those days. You bought wardrobes..no built-ins. We heated our water in a copper. We had a fuel stove and gradually over the years you got nick knacks which made it a home. When Mum died we sold it for 1200 pounds. The road was still a dirt road and the home was nothing to write home about but we loved it. It was our home.”