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The Boarding House...
Many boarding houses provided
accommodation for blue collar workers and newly arrived migrants in the
1960s. The composition of residents in boarding houses gradually changed
through the 1970s as a greater number of Indigenous people came to the
city and institutions for people with disabilities and
mental illnesses were shut down.
After 1967’s referendum, Indigenous
people came to the city. In 1960 we moved to the corner of Moray Street
and Mountford Road. I had a boarding house there. I was looking for a
boarding house, and that came up so we thought we’d buy that. Two of the
children were born there. Altogether I think there were sixteen rooms.
We were living on one side, and the boarders were living on the other
side. They had a kitchen. I serviced the rooms and used an old copper to
wash the clothes. They were washed by hand, and put in the boiler. Then,
I’d wring them dry, and then hang them out…it was hard work.
One day
Grace saw a woman leaving the men-only boarding house. She raced after
her, to see who it was…and realized it was a man… I said we don’t have
women here….and when I saw him…..Oh my god, I couldn’t believe it! He
was dressed up…..he was a lovely fellow, a nice chap.
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