Farewell to Sarah Precinct

Residents gathered in September 2004 to say goodbye to friends and neighbours in the midst of the demolition of Sarah Precinct, where some had lived for 20 years. During an emotional ceremony, residents released doves as a sign of peace and shared their stories. Among them were Bev Harvey, Yvonne Sayers, Adele Goodwin and Bev Davis, stalwarts of the Minto community.

Farewell

Lives are so important,
and so are our homes,
community and neighbours are what we call our own.

When one neighbour moves normally
it can be such a loss.
But when the neighbourhood moves
Your heart ties up in knots.

Calton, Durban, Wangoola and Sarah.
The whole precinct was alive.
The streets full of good people
brought the community to life.

But we must say farewell
because we have to move on.
Hoping our lives will be swell.
But our hearts will always live in Minto.

Adele
September 2004.

Bev Harvey’s Funny Stories

When you're riding your pushbike at top speed down the road, be sure there’s no trailers to run into.

A neighbour was overseas for six months so the neighbour next door mowed her lawn but she had an accident and cut off her toe. Her friend tried to retrieve it but a magpie swooped on it.

I ticked off a kid for climbing on my rockery and she said, “You're not my mother!” and I said, “Thank god.”

A friend doing his famous party trick got us all going when he sucked in a condom instead of blowing it up.

Who rode a Yamaha XDV twin into a front fence?

After extensive insurance repairs, who reversed into the only pole in the street?

Talk about close calls, who was lucky to only have stitches in his head when the car he was working on fell off the axle stand?

Who fell in a pothole when heavily pregnant and revealed she'd never fallen over even when drunk?