Aunty Rhonda Griffiths
When I was about 15 I moved to Muswellbrook. I had been going to school at Carlingford but my Mum remarried, and he worked on the railway. So my Mum, myself and one of my siblings moved to Muswellbrook.
They rented some rooms in the house up in Brentwood St, from a lady called Mrs Roy and we shared a room there and the bathroom and the kitchen until we got a house in Richmond Street, which was a Housing Commission home.
I met some girls from Aberdeen, they invited me to party. So, I went to the party up in Aberdeen and met two boys there, Neville and Terry. They asked me on a car rally with them, so I went on the car rally and I ended up going out with Terry. And then I ended up marrying Terry two years down the track.
We moved to Aberdeen where Terry’s parents were and raised our four boys there, but things weren’t going so well. I realised we couldn’t afford to do things the way we wanted to. So, I went out looking for work and got a job. Don’t ask me why but I just felt the need to work. I wanted to try and make it different, so I’ve always worked from that day.
The Appin Massacre had affected my great-grandmother. So, one year my Mum and I decided that we would like to go down in the week they hold the memorial for it. So, we went down and it was so lovely between my Mum, and to embrace through the smoking ceremony, it actually almost brought tears to my eyes. Being there with it, with one of their cousins, I just wanted to know that we were back on our home ground. You know, back on Country, it was something for us.
“I wanted to try and make it different.”
