Dolly & Mac Delaney
We got married in the backyard
Dolly: We have lived in Minto for 23 years. I applied for Housing Commission in 1986 and we were approved, so me and Mac came to have a look at the house in Wangoola Way. When I first saw the townhouse in Wangoola Way, I liked it because it was close to the school, the shops and the bus stop.
Mac: The neighbours were all good and our kids got on really well. I got on well with a neighbour further down, Steve Martin and his family. We were good mates, I still see him even though he’s moved away.
Dolly: We got married in 1989 and most people helped us prepare the wedding, and one baked our wedding cake. We got married in the backyard. I had never heard of being married in a backyard until I saw some people getting married in the backyard or in a park on TV.
Mac: I’m Australian, born and bred in a little town called Wellington in New South Wales. When I was 25 I came to Sydney. I lived in Redfern in different places around there. Ended up being a Rabbitoh’s supporter. Still am.
Dolly: I come from the Philippines. I arrived here in 1976. I left the Philippines because I got married here in Australia. I was married to his brother and he died. We were only married for four years. He (Mac’s brother) saw my name in an advertisement for pen friends so he wrote me a letter. Then I came here and everything was ready for the wedding and we got married in Randwick in 1977. He died of a heart attack. After that, Mac was very kind and helpful to me, and we just clicked. That’s the reason we got married here in Minto. We have two children; Patrick is 29, Alan is 24. The youngest is working and the other one isn’t, he doesn’t have a permanent job.
Mac: When there is work, he works for a few days and then they put him off. You ask the young lads around here about work, it’s very hard at the moment. There’s four or five lads around here all looking for work.
Dolly: They get really upset especially when they like the
job and maybe you work for two months and they
say you’re finished. It’s very hard to get a job.
All the neighbours I had when I moved there,
they’re all kind of moving out. And new ones
moving in, they’re all young ones. That’s when we
started to dislike the place because all you heard
was swearing, and sometimes fighting in the
night-time, and police come. It’s been really bad
up there the last few years before we moved here,
it’s scary — then one night the third house from
where we were, got burnt. And the next house it
got burnt too. That’s when they decided to
demolish the two houses. That’s when they
started demolishing Wangoola Way, and then the
other side, in Sarah Way. In the last few years it’s
been terrible. You can’t sleep peacefully, you’re
worried. One time, the side of our yard got burnt
and the next door neighbour had to call us and
say, your garden’s on fire.