Robyn Stafford
My Story of Minto
In 1989 I moved to Minto. My daughter and I did a mutual exchange. In my mind, it was only a temporary move (I wanted to go to Goulburn). Three of my children had moved on and the fourth was 16. I had my fifth child the following year. I was working at Chester Hill Post Office, so I registered for a mutual exchange to Goulburn (with the Department of Housing) and continually looked for job vacancies in Australia Post at Goulburn.
We lived in Wangoola Way. When I moved in, the area was mainly occupied by families who definitely took pride in their surroundings — lawns were mowed and gardens well tended, husbands worked and so did a lot of the mums. Because I worked out of the area at that time I mainly only saw neighbours at the weekend. As time went on, some of the long time residents were able to move on and buy their own homes in the private sector.
Then in the last three or four years, the atmosphere changed a lot with people coming and going and not as much pride in what they had. We had addicts and dealers. I hope my son and grandchildren saw enough to keep them on the ‘straight and narrow’ for life.
Excitement… we had plenty! Hardly a weekend went by without police paddy wagons and cars (sometimes up to five) coming into the street for one thing or another.
When the demolition of Minto was announced — Department of Housing and Government call it ‘renewal’ but tenants think ‘demolition’ — I became more involved. I went to Resident Action Group meetings just so I could find out what was going to happen. It was a very stressful time. We were part of the Sarah Precinct and my next door neighbours and my son and I were the last two families in our street. I retired from work. I honestly think it was from the stress of everything going on at the time.
Since leaving work, I have not been idle. I have continued with the Residents Action Group and before we moved I went to the Safety Committee meetings (this is for concerned residents). I have also been into Sydney as part of a group to speak with the Housing Minister, Joe Tripodi — we have had four of them since the demolition was announced. I have been to Parliament House in Macquarie Street and also went to the forum at the Catholic Club, Campbelltown, last year. I am now a member of the Remembering Minto Committee.
Daniel and I now live in Leumeah in a fibro cottage — not my dream (I didn’t want to leave Minto) but I suppose it’s not too bad. We have been here for one year now and it is a lot quieter, but we still get to go back to Minto on a daily basis as Daniel goes to Sarah Redfern High — all his friends are there! I do most of my shopping at the mall and get to see my exworkmates at the post office and always run into a couple of friends every visit.
By the way, I did get an offer of a mutual exchange to Goulburn and a job chance came up as well. I could also have asked to be relocated there, so I guess we really do “LUV MINO”!!!