At Christmas time mum and dad got all their fresh fruit and produce from Adelaide. It would all come over on Norton's Transport from the markets. This was before refrigerated trucks. If it was stinking hot over the Christmas period, the strawberries would be all collapsed, the lettuces would look flat- they were basically cooked. It always upset mum to think that people waited all year to have delicacies like strawberries or cherries and they were not right. Whereas today, you just go in and get whatever you want. All refrigerated. People lived on budgets back then. We had a docket book system, and everything was written down. Mum and dad were exceptionally good at adding everything up quickly in their heads. I had to sit there with a calculator. As Mum and Dad got older, the shop declined. They had their day. 43 years in the shop and house, it was hard to see them pack up.

As a child I loved the pool and the beach. On a stinking hot day when we were growing up, we could traipse our bum down to the pool. At six o'clock that shut so you would traipse yourself back home and by the time you got home it was stinking hot and wanted to go back again! Loved it when the pool opened at night and the lights were on in the pool. After work on a hot day, Mum would pile us kids in the Whoppi and we would go to Tumby Bay. As soon as you got to the top of the hills, it was a 10-degree drop. She'd encourage us to get in the water, have a swim and she would do the same. If we were lucky, we got an ice cream on the way home. If it was good fishing weather on a weekend, Dad would knock off from the shop, we would all pile in the Whoppi and away we would go. We were never allowed to follow dad as he went up on the rocks. We stayed in the little pools (fond memories of Pt Drummond) or the safer areas. Mum put the fear of God into us with the sea. Always have the greatest respect for that West Coast or any coast.

The Whoppi was a great van. Loved her! I found the wheel caps when we were cleaning up. Us kids would stand up, no seatbelts back then. All five of us were across the front seat. If you were one of the little ones, you would stand up on the front, hang on and you would make out you were driving. Tried your hardest to stand up tall when going around a corner. Somebody was always in the way of the long gear stick on the floor. As kids even if it was cold and if the creek was down, we would still go down there. Mum would find out and get cross as we would be down there swimming. I did not think much of the railway dam, that always scared me, the boys would go down there and muck around. We were careful, but we were still kids. Loved the trains, quite soothing to hear them coming into town and shunting. Sad that era has gone.

I met Denis at a cabaret in Cummins at the Institute Hall in 1980. We married in 1981. Denis was a shearer, and I worked for the first twelve months of our marriage. I went to Karkoo and fell in love with the district. Denis, an avid sportsperson, played a sport all his childhood. I played tennis and got involved with the community there. We have two children; Keith and Tarina. Both went to school at Karkoo and Cummins. Both are married and we have 3 grandchildren and another on the way. Denis and I went share farming. First, we worked for Barry and Shirley Durdin then for Jim and Ivy Breed. We lived in Tennant Creek when I was pregnant with our daughter Tarina. We went up there for Denis to work in the Waco mines. Denis's dad got sick, so we came back. We were there for six months, it was certainly an eye opener for a small country girl to see. When we moved back to Cummins, Denis worked for tyre place, McLeod's, for a while. I went to work at Miroma Place as a cleaner and then as a coordinator for activities. We moved back to Karkoo to do farming again and that did not work out. Came back to Cummins to be offered a cleaning job at the Cummins hospital around 1992. I was still working full time at the hospital when I did my Aged Care Certificate. It took 12 months through TAFE to do my certificate three. Training on my days off at Miroma Hostel. I was in the ambos for two years while I was doing that as well. It just got a bit too much. The kids were still at school, they had sport and other interests too. I was involved with the Ag Show, Rec Centre, basketball club, tidy towns, and the hall committee. Let alone whatever else the kids and Denis were following. It's amazing what you can do, you just sort of jam it all in. I have been in Miroma now for about 10-12 years and with SA Health for over 30 years.

The industry is always looking for new staff. It is a field that is challenging and rewarding. I love the oldies, as I call them. I encourage those that come in and work to do their nursing if they show an interest. It never interested me to do my nursing. In the shop, you got to know everybody in the district. You knew everybody and you knew where all the connections were. We need to encourage people to do their nursing, drift back into aged care. We need to get people back into small communities. I did further study as an Allied Health Assistant (podiatry) to assist with doing Miroma and Long Stay Residents at the Hospital as there was a huge shortage of podiatrists. This has taken me onto working 2 days a week in Cowell now.

Robert Wedd approached me to go on to LEHAC (Lower Eyre Health Advisory Council). It is great, and I enjoy being on it. It is a positive for our community because we speak up for our area. Great ideas come up for what is needed for both Cummins and the Tumby hospitals. We are fighting to keep the little hospitals open. Our whole team is very vocal. We stick up for both Tumby Bay and Cummins and are very loud. We go off to these meetings, and we are very productive. We really stick up for our districts.

One of the biggest achievements is the accommodation at Cummins for the nursing staff and doctors. Adopt a room has been great too. The hospital auxiliaries do an amazing job. The community is amazing. We do a fair bit without government assistance; it is a lot of community money. We spent a lot of years supporting both our parents. All 4 in different health issues over 4-6 years. It was a tough time, 3 parents in 6 months of each other dying, then 12 months later the last one.

We’ve been in Port Neill now for three years. We moved mainly because I wanted to be by the sea for a little while. We always holidayed at Port Neill as kids and as a family and have a connection with it. We wanted to do something different. We both got our bar license, and we help volunteer at the bowls club. We help where we can. I am always willing to volunteer. We intend to come back to Cummins and support the town. Health and aged care here are pretty good. Our daughter and family and friends are here as well. I have not found driving difficult. I look at it as if you are living in the city, you must deal with traffic, stop lights and road accidents. I am still involved with my stitching group “Cummins Stitchers.” I love getting together with passionate crafty women. We meet every second Saturday of the month. They still hold their Wednesday classes as well, in the hall. I love doing hand stitching and crocheting. I do a bit of knitting, but I love hand sewing. I have a lot of quilts that have a lot of little stitcheries in them, and all been stitched up. But they are not put together to make a quilt. Called U.F.O.’s (unfinished objects) My aim when I retire is to put these quilts together. I also learnt to do mosaics.

We had an exchange student in 2000, through the AFS program at the Cummins Area School. Ricardo Tormem, he is the second son, our third child. We went over for his wedding and met his beautiful wife Alini, and they ended up having two children. It was a couple of years later that Ricardo and Alini had an extremely sick child. I decided we would be going back. Their son was allergic to milk proteins. Blow me down if our son Keiths’s son was like that also – he had massive allergies. Our whole family; Tarina, Keith and their families went back to Brazil for a Christmas. It was an amazing trip with his family. We all piled into cars and travelled around to different states of Brazil. We have been to Iguazu Falls twice. That's just absolutely breathtaking. Brazil is like Australia, it’s so diverse. There are so many different things. South America is just massive. It's absolutely stunning.

We had not been home long, and Ricardo came out said he was gay. We did a video call, Alini his wife was there, they had known for a while and tried to keep their marriage together. We talked and talked; it was such a shock at first. Love them both dearly. Ricardo has a brother Raphael. We spent some time with him when we were in Perth while Denis was working. His parents have been out to visit, and Ricardo came out with his wife and family and had a Christmas in Australia before they started their family. Boy did they feel the heat. Their heat is different to ours. We are still in contact; we talk on the phone and facetime too. Ricardo has since remarried, and Alini has remarried and had a daughter, and we are in contact with both. Both parents speak English and are encouraging the boys to also learn, Ricardo teaches English and works for his dad’s company. I am very family orientated and we are a truly diverse family. We have Swedish, Italian, Brazilian, Finnish, German and Jamaican connections. It is lovely. It is a big, big crew and we try and keep up with them all. I love to catch up with the kids, and my nieces and nephews. I love how everybody is very friendly here. We all come together in a natural disaster, or if there is a death, or birth or whatever. We can all pull together and help.

During the fires, it was horrible. I was thankful I could help. It scared me. It was so sad, and it still affects me. We were in Cummins at the time, trying to round up the parents and work out where they were as it looked like the fire was going to come this way. We were in the stage of trying to evacuate the hospital and work out where we were all going to go. We made sandwiches at the hospital for the fire fighters and Denis loaded up our vehicle and went to Edillilie, helping those that were coming in. The Lipson truck got caught in amongst the fires. Some people from Wanilla got caught too and were burnt and just being with them and making sure that they were all right was overwhelming. Then the wind shifted, all that sort of all settled down. Then all the statistics of deaths and injuries started coming through. It was such a terrible time. The community came together through Leanne Charlton. She encouraged the community to volunteer, and donations from everywhere poured into the Institute Hall, and I helped. That pulled me in towards the community spirit and showed how we all could pull together. I look at things differently now. I think- well, it is a house, it does not matter, if you and your family, friends around you are okay, you can rebuild. I think of the families that lost their loved ones, it's horrible. In our stitches group, we made quilts and knitted blankets for families here and in Victoria. Anyone that was sick in the community, we would give them a hug blanket and put a button on it. Just to say that we are connected, and we are thinking of you. It was just a little thing.

Both Denis and I are associate members of the Cummins RSL. I'm on the committee and happy to help where I can. Denis's grandfather was a Light Horseman, and both our uncles were in the Navy. We have an avid history of the services. To be an associate member is not hard. It shows our support. I am very proud of the local History of those that fought for our Country from our Districts and honor those that did not come home.

I love music. I love to see people having a go and love jam sessions. I enjoyed the Music Halls the town put on and they showed our diversity. I thoroughly enjoyed being a performer and representing the hospital in those Music Halls. It was awesome and the town raised money for our hospitals. I always wanted to learn to play the piano but back then Mum could never afford it, and I've just never found the time to do it. I love a range of music. It just needs to be played loud.

It is a good town. I have history here. I was born here, grew up with my family here, and went to school. I married and had my children in the local hospital. It's a good life and a good place. I'll be back and Port Neill is not that far away.